


AN 



ADDRESS 

COMMEMORATIVE OF THE 

Organization of City Government 

IN BOSTON, MAY 1, i822. 

DELIVERED AT THE REQUEST OF THE CITY COUNCIL, 

ON SEPTEMBER 17, tS97, 



BY 



JOSLAH QUINCY, 



MAYOR OF THE CITY. 




BOSTON: 

MUNICIPAL PRINTING OFFICE. 
1897. 





.Cl76 



AN 



ADDRESS 

COMMEMORATIVE OF THE 

Organization of City Government 

IN BOSTON, MAY 1, 1822. 

DELIVERED AT THE REQUEST OF THE CITY COUNCIL, 
ON SEPTEMBER 17, 1897, 



BY 



JOSIAH QUINCY, 



MAYOR OF THE CITY. 




l^ TBOSTOITIUV a/j 



BOSTON : 

MUNICIPAL PRINTING OFFICE. 

1897. 



In Common Council, April 8, 1897. 

Mr. SANDS of Ward 12 offered an order — That a joint spe- 
cial committee, to consist of the President and live members of 
the Common Conncil, and the Chairman and such as the Board of 
Aldermen may join, be appointed to confer with His Honor the 
Mayor in regard to a proper observance of JNIay 1, 1897, said 
date being the seventy-flftli anniversai-y of the organization of 
the City Government, under charter granted Fel). 2:3, 1822, and 
adopted March 4, 1822. 

Passed. Sent up for concurrence. In Board of Aldermen, 
April 12, 1897, Concurred. 

Aldermen Dyar, W. F. Donovan and Lott were appointed on 
said committee. 



In Common Council, April 15, 1897. 

The President announced the appointment of members on the 
part of the Council, on the committee on seventy-fifth anniver- 
sary^ of Organization of Boston City Government, viz. : Messrs. 
Conry of Ward 2, Sands of Ward 12, Mahoney of Ward 4, 
Briggs of Ward 11, Connolly of Ward 17, and Jones of 
Ward 21. 



In Common Council, June 24, 1897. 

Mr. SANDS of Ward 12 sn])mitted the following: — 

The joint special committee on the observance of the seventy- 
fifth anniversary of the Boston City Government submit the fol- 
lowing report of their action to date. Memorial exercises will be 
held in the Conncil Chamber, Sept. 17, 1897, before the mem- 
bers of the government and invited guests, the address to be 
delivered by His Honor the Mayor. An historical volume, em- 
bodying this address and collateral facts concerning our munici- 
pality is to be issued, and to prepare and publish this document, 
the committee ask for an extension of time, and the passage of 
the accompanying order : 

Ordered, That the Clerk of Committees, under the direction 
of the Committee on Printing, prejjare and publish 2,500 copies 
of a memorial to connnemorate the seventy-fifth anniversary of 
the Boston City Government, and that $1,000 be appropriated 
and charged to City Council Incidental Expenses. 

Report accepted, order passed. Sent up for concurrence. In 
Board of Aldermen, June 30, 1897, Concurred. Approved by tlie 
Mayor, July 2, 1897. 



INTRODUCTION, 



In accordance Avitli the foregoins; votes a meeting was held in 
the Common-Council Chamber on Friday, Sept. 17, 1897, at four 
o'clock. 

Of the former maj^ors present were, the Hon. Frederic W. Lin- 
coln, the senior, who served the city in I80H, 1859, 1860, 1863, 
1864, 1865, 1866, seven years in all; the Hon. Samuel A. Green, 
1882, who was the presiding officer of the day ; the Hon Thomas 
N. Hart, 1889 and 1890, who entered the chamber with Mayor 
Quincy, and was accompanied by Alderman William F. Donovan 
of the committee of arrangements, and Alderman David F. Barry, 
all of whom had seats on the President's platform. 

In their innnediate front, for whom seats were reserved, were 
the following : — 

Former Chairmen of the Board of Aldermen, Benjamin James 
1869; Homer Rogers, 1889, and Alpheus Sanford, 1894-95 
Former Aldermen John M, Clark, who comes next to former 
Alderman James in point of seniority; Benjamin F. Anthony 
1882-83; Asa H, Caton, 1880; George L." Thorndike, 1880 
Charles M. Bromwich, 1886-87; Thomas H. Devlin, 1883 
Charles W. Smith, 1887-88-89-90; Sidney Gushing, 1890; Clar 
ence W, Hallstram, 1893-94; Nathaniel J. Rust, 1891-92 
William Pope, 1875-76. 

President of the Common C-ouncil, Joseph A, Conry, 1895-96 
Former Presidents Joseph Story, 1855 and 1856 ; William G 
Harris, 1869 ; Matthias Rich, 1871 ; M, F, Dickinson, Jr,, 1872 
Edward J, Jenkins, 1885-86, and Christopher F, O'Brien 
1894-95, 

Former Councilmen Patrick E. Riddle, 1885, 1893-94-95-96 
M. W. Norris, 1888-89-90-91-92-94-95; M. T. Callahan, 
1892-93-94-95-96, and Daniel D. Rourke, 1893-94, 

Introduction by Hon, Samuel A. Green. 

The formal proceedings were commenced by Hon. Samuel A, 
Green, ex-Mayor of the city, who had been selected to preside, 
and who introduced the orator of the da}^, Hon. Josiah Quincy, 
in the following words : — 



ADDRESS 

BY 

EX-MAYOR SAMUEL A. GREEN. 



It is an interesting occasion that brings us together this 
afternoon. Three quarters of a century have come and 
gone since the town of Boston laid aside its limited powers 
and privileges, and took on the larger duties and obligations 
which were granted by a city charter. In accordance with 
a custom long established in our community, it seems emi- 
nently fit that an event, so fraught with great and bene- 
ficial results, should be marked m some way out of the 
conunon course and made conspicuous by a formal recog- 
nition. For such a celebration, what day in the whole 
year is so proper, as the anniversary of the passage of the 
order by the Court of Assistants, on September 17, two 
hundred and sixty-seven years ago, that Tri-mountame 
should be called Boston. By a happy coincidence the day 
is also the anniversary of another memorable event of more 
recent times Avhich should not to be overlooked on this oc- 
casion. On September 17, one hundred and ten years ago, 
the Constitution of the United States was adopted and 
signed in convention, thus adding other traditions and asso- 
ciations to the date which is considered the birthday of our 
beloved city. 

Among all civilized communities mankmd delights in an- 
niversaries, and rejoices inbound periods of recorded time ; 
and the fact crops out in political as well as ecclesiastical 
histor}'. This feeling is prompted by a delicate sentiment 
of our nature, which goes back so far that the mind cannot 
follow it. The commemoration of to-day is in harmony witli 
these views, and is suggested by an instinct as broad as 
human nature itself. 



8 Seventy-Fifth Anniyersary of Boston. 

It is my pleasant duty this afternoon to introduce the 
speaker of tlie day ; and I take the opportunity now to con- 
gratulate the citizens of Boston on having a public servant 
so able to describe the organic changes that have taken place 
in the municipal government during these seventy-five years, 
and so competent to trace the evolution of events as they have 
gradually unfolded tliemselves. 1 also felicitate the citizens 
of Boston on having a Mayor who from two distinguished an- 
cestors has inherited the traditions of the office, and who is 
so familiar with the story of its political development. I 
doubt if ever it has fallen to the lot of any other municipal- 
ity in the land, within a period of three-quarters of a century, 
to have the mayoral office filled by three Imeal descendants of 
one family, and each of them bearing the same name. 

It may seem needless to introduce a gentleman so well- 
known as the speaker who will address us this afternoon, but 
as matter of mere form I will present to the audience His 
Honor Mayor Quincy. 



ADDRESS 

BY 

JOSIAH OUINCY, MAYOR. 



Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the City Council: 

It has been tlionglit appropriate that the city of Boston 
shoukl observe m some simple manner the completion of the 
first three-quarters of a century of its corporate existence. 
The first city government was inaugurated on Maj^ 1, 1822 ; 
as the present exercises could not be arranged for that 
date, they were postponed until to-day, the two hundred and 
sixty-seventh anniversary of the original establishment of the 
town of Boston. It was felt that the occurrence of this 
seventy-fifth anniversary, coming so near the close of the 
nineteenth century, and at a time of transition in municipal 
affairs, when our city is just entering, in many respects, 
upon a new period in its development, might well serve as 
an occasion for taking a brief survey of the past, for endeav- 
oring to realize more fully just what the constitution of our 
government is at present, and for considering some of the 
lines upon which farther improvements are to be sought. 

The year 1897 has been, or will be during its remaining 
months, marked by events which may well serve to make it 
a conspicuous milestone on the pathway of our nnuiicipal 
progress. 

Changes in City Government. 

Perhaps first of all, — particularly as one of the moving 
causes for the holding of these exercises, — should be men- 
tioned the passage by the Legislature of the act for the 
consolidation into one chamber of the Board of Aldermen 
and the Common Council, which is to be submitted for the 



10 Seventy-Fifth Anniversary 

acceptance of the voters at the commg state election. If 
they ratify the work of the General Court, the two branches 
estabhshecl by the charter of 1822 will, at the close of an 
existence of three-quarters of a century, disappear as separate 
bodies from our city government. 

Great Public Works. 
In the line of great public works, the present year has 
seen the opening for travel of the first section of the subway, 
the greatest piece of engineering work ever undertaken by 
our city within its own limits, and only to be compared in 
magnitude with our water works ; the beginning of the con- 
struction of the new Southern Union Station, the largest 
single enterprise ever undertaken by a private corporation 
withm tliis city, destined to be one of the finest railroad 
passenger terminals in the whole world ; the abolition of all 
railroad grade-crossings of the Providence main-line, within 
the city, and the beginning of the abolition of those between 
Charlestown and Cambridge, and Charlestown and Somer- 
ville, — improvements which have baffled the efforts of the 
ablest engineers for forty years ; the combination of our 
great surface railway system with the projected elevated 
railway system, thus assuring the completion of the latter; 
and the opening of work upon the new Columbia Road, 
uniting the Marine Park with Franklin Park, which will 
practically finish our park system by completing the chain 
of Parkways, over nine miles in length, connecting the 
Public Garden with Castle Island. 

The present year has seen the partial construction of the 
new bridge to Charlestown, and the beginnuig of plans for 
the new bridge to Cambridge to replace the two main bridge- 
connections of the city, which date back to the last cen- 
tury. It has seen legislative provision for the building of a 
tunnel to East Boston ; the construction of the first section 
of tlie pneumatic system for the transportation of mail matter 



City Goveristment of Boston. 11 

and light packages, and the laymg of the first section of 
pipe-line for the use of salt water in the extinguishment of 
fire. The end of the year will see the acquisition by the 
Metropolitan Water Commission, actmg under authority of the 
Commonwealth, of all of the great water supply system of 
the city, and probably the introduction of the water of tlie 
Nashua river. This year Avill also see the inauguration and 
partial completion of a public undertaking of great import- 
ance, namely, the laying out of a widened thorouglifare 
for teaming through the business district, extending from 
Charlestown street to Atlantic avenue, upon which the last 
Legislature authorized tlie city to expend half a million dol- 
lars. The abolition of the grade crossing of the Old Colony 
railroad and Dorchester avenue has also been finally provided 
for this year, by legislation securing the relocation of the 
tracks for a distance of over half a mile ; and in connection 
with this plan our Park Commission has already ac(|uired the 
stretch of marsh and shore adjacent to tliis railroad on the 
Old Harbor, thereby bringing nearly the whole of two and 
one-half miles of important water front under public owner- 
ship. The widening of Charlestown street, to serve as an 
approach to the new bridge to Charlesto^vn, at an estunated 
expense of half a million dollars, must also be mcluded in 
the list of important public undertakmgs of the year. 

Progress in Works for Public Health. 
In other lines of municipal activit}^, which signalize the 
present year, may be mentioned the inauguration of a com- 
prehensive policy of providing local playgrounds, the city 
having acquired this year and last year, and partially 
improved, seven different parcels of land for this purpose ; 
the opening of our first public in-door gymnasium, acquu-ed 
by gift, and now conducted by the city under express 
authority of the Legislature ; the passage of an act revolu- 
tionizing the financial basis upon which our sewerage and 
dramage works are constructed and operated, and the 



12 Seventy-Fifth Anniversary 

opening of our first municipal Latb-liouse for all-the-year- 
around use, probably the best appointed and most costly 
building yet erected for the purpose by any American city. 

Printing and Electric Plants. 
The present year has also seen the establishment of a 
municipal printing plant, the first to be put m operation by 
any city in this country; and the installation by the city of 
its first isolated electric lighting plant, at a cost of fifty 
thousand dollars. 

Harbor Improvements and Fortifications. 
To turn to activities of the federal government affecting 
Boston, this year has seen, or will see during its remaining 
months, the completion of important harbor fortifications, for 
the first time affording reasonable protection to the city 
against modern ships of war, and the beginning of the 
important work (for which provision has now been made by 
Congress) of deepening the channel of our harbor to provide 
properly for modern shipping. In connection with the har- 
bor, the passage of important State legislation inaugurating 
to some extent the policy of public ownership of the unim- 
proved water front, and providing for the construction of a 
modern dock upon the land of the Commonwealth at South 
Boston calls for particular mention. 

Humanitarian Ch^vnges in Public Institutions. 

In respect to the internal organization of our city govern- 
ment, the separation of the Institutions Department into five 
new departments, placing Boston in advance of all other 
American cities in the scientific organization and specializa- 
tion of penal, charitable and reformatory work, is the most 
notable event of the year. The creation of a department 
of Mmiicipal Statistics, the first to be established in this 



City Government of Boston. 13 

country, again places our city in the lead in the inauguration 
of a new branch of service, which lias proved of great value 
abroad and will doubtless become of equal utility here. 

Opening of a New Municipal Period. 

Certainly the aggregation of these results amply justifies 
the statement that tliis year 1897 may well serve to mark 
the close of one period and the beginning of another in the 
numicipal history of Boston. They indicate very clearly 
that this city, having now exceeded the half-million mark 
in population, may trutlifully be said to have entered upon 
its metropolitan era. We liave turned our backs at last upon 
the three-quarters of a century which lie behind us, and are 
lookmg forward to the great municipal career which the 
next quarter of a century should have in store for us. 
Beginning in 1822 as a small provincial city, surrounded by 
towns of comparatively little population, the Boston of to- 
day finds herself occupying no mean rank among the great 
cities of the world, and encircled by a chain of twenty-eight 
cities and towns which bring the total inhabitants of the city 
and immediate suburljs nearly to the million mark. Indica- 
tions can be seen on every hand that our city has entered 
upon a new era of municipal development, of extension and 
improvement of municipal service, and is preparing herself for 
the new and added responsibilities which the twentieth century 
will bring to a great urban community. 

Attempts at Incorporation. 

Like other old towns, Boston had never been specially 
incorporated by act of the General Court ; it was merely recog- 
nized as a self-constituted local l)ody politic. As early as the 
seventeenth century efforts had been made to secure an act 
of incorporation, but these had come to nothmg. There were 
no less than four reports made by committees of the town in 



14 S EVENT Y-Fn^TH ANNIVERSARY 

favor of the adoption of a city charter prior to that report 
of 1821 which resulted in securing it. These four attempts 
were made in the years 1784, 1792, 1804 and 1815. 

The committee of 1784, wldcli included Samuel Adams 
and James Sullivan, submitted two plans. It is a some- 
what curious coincidence that tlie first plan proposed by this 
connnittee provided for a city government, acting for some 
purposes as a single chamber, consisting of thirty-eight mem- 
bers, the exact number provided for by the act of the present 
year, while the second plan proposed a single body elected 
one-third at large and two-thirds by wards, the same basis of 
election now proposed. Both of these plans were over- 
whelmingly rejected. The committee of 1792 included John 
Quincy Adams, Charles Bulfinch, James Sullivan and other 
well known men. They proposed a Town Council of twenty- 
seven members, the nine Selectmen to be chosen at large, 
and the remaining eigliteen members to be elected m the nine 
wards which it was proposed to establish. This plan also was 
rejected after full consideration. In 1804 the town took the 
interesting step of ordering what was called a constitutional 
convention, the members of which were chosen by wards, that 
system of voting having been introduced in 1799. Under 
the plan proposed by this body the town meeting was retained, 
but shorn of its powers; it was also recommended- in the 
report " that suitable measures be taken to render the town 
of lioston a county," vesting the executive powers of the 
Court of Quarter-Sessions in the proposed Town Council. 
In 1815 another large and influential committee proposed a 
somewhat coDiplicated modification of the plan of 1804. The 
report of 1815, in spite of the complications of the proposed 
scheme of goverjunent, can)e nuich nearer success than any 
preceding efforts, only failing of adoption by a vote of 
951 opposed as against 920 in favor; an indication that 
the town was at last nearly ready to seek incorporation as 
a city. 



City Govern]ment of Bostoist. 15 

City Charter Adopted. 

In view of the fact that the Constitution of Massachusetts 
as it then stood made no express provision for tlie incorpora- 
tion of cities, the constitutional convention of 1820 thought 
it proper to submit to the people of the state what is now 
the Second Amendment, providing that the General Court 
could incorporate as cities towns containing upward of 
12,000 inhabitants. This amendment was adopted by a 
small majority, and shortly afterward the town appointed a 
final committee, which included John Phillips, then Presi- 
dent of the Senate and afterwards first Mayor of the city ; 
Josiah Qumcy, then Speaker of the House of Representa- 
tives and afterwards the second Mayor ; Lemuel Shaw, later 
Chief Justice of the Commonwealth, and Daniel Webster. 
This committee submitted its report on Dec. 31, 1821, which, 
after it had been debated three days, and amended in several 
important respects, was submitted to popular vote on Jan. 7, 
1822. Upon the question whether Boston should be a sep- 
arate county, which was submitted separately, the vote was 
almost unanimous in the affirmative, while the plan for 
changmg the town mto a city was adopted by a vote of 2,805 
yeas to 2,006 nays. This was promptly followed by the pas- 
sage by the General Court of the act of mcorporation, ap- 
proved by the Governor on Feb. 23, 1822 ; and on 
March 4 the act was accepted by the town by a vote of 
2,797 yeas to 1,881 nays. 

When the town government ended one hundred and twelve 
officers were chosen annually in town meetmg, in addition to 
those appointed Ijy the Selectmen; and moreover each ward 
elected one member of the Board of Health, two Assessors 
of Taxes, and a ward clerk. Under tlie new city charter 
the voters of the whole city were to choose only one Mayor 
and eight Aldermen-at-large, while the voters of each of the 
twelve wards were also to choose four Councilmen, one 



IG Seventy-Fifth Anniveesary 

member of the School Committee, one Overseer of the Poor, 
not less than three Fn-ewards, and the Ward Officers. All 
other necessary officers were to be chosen by the City Conncil 
or by the Mayor and Aldermen. The finances of the city 
and county were united under a single Treasurer. The ordi- 
nances were no longer subject to the disapproval of the county 
court, though the General Court reserved the right to annul 
any which did not meet with its approval. 

The original act of incorporation, being chapter 110 of 
the Acts of the year 1821, entitled "An Act Establishing 
the City of Boston," although revised by chapter 448 of the 
Acts of 1854, entitled "An Act to Revise the Charter of 
the City of Boston," and modified in many respects by other 
legislation since that date, still stands unrepealed upon the 
statute book. 

Reasons for Incorporation. 

In deciding to adopt a city form of government, to replace 
that of the town Avhich had lasted for nearly two centuries, the 
people of Boston had two important objects in view. In the 
first place, they felt that the time had come when the growth 
of the town, contammg in 1820 over 43,000 mhabitants, 
made the change from direct government to representative 
government a practical necessity. Pure democracy had been 
outgrown and representative democracy had to take its place. 
Under the town the people themselves constituted the gov- 
ernment; the Selectmen were not a government in an}'- 
proper sense. They were a committee appointed, by the 
town for certain purposes, rather than officers of independ- 
ent powers durmg a certain term of office, and until 1776 
they acted as a committee and not as a board. They were 
subject at any time to instructions from the town meet- 
ing, and thus were agents, not governing officials. But the 
voters of the town hatl become too numerous longer to 
exercise directly the powers of municipal government. At 



City Government of Boston. 17 

the town meeting held on Jan. 6, 1822, to act upon the 
report of the committee whicli had been appointed to draft the 
charter, over 4,800 votes were cast. As early as 1799 it had 
been found necessary to establish ward elections for certain 
purposes. In 1813 a sort of town council had l)een instituted 
by vesting the choice of the City Treasurer and Collectors 
of Taxes in a bod}^ of thirty-three mem])ers, consisting of 
the nine Selectmen, the niemliers of the Board of Health and 
the twelve Overseers of the Poor ; and this body also acted 
as a committee on finance. 

Objection to County Court Control. 
But there was another potent reason, not generally as well 
understood, which was also largely instrumental in bringing 
al)out the change in the form of government. Suffolk County 
had been establislied in 1643, and had been given a county 
court, whicli had jurisdiction over some matters closely con- 
nected with the town of Boston, and wliich was for certain 
purposes an executive body superior to the Selectmen. 
Suffolk emltraced at that time a large territory outside of 
Boston, including Roxbury, Dorchester, the whole of what 
is now Norfolk County and a good part of Worcester Comity. 
The County Court met but four times a year, from whicli it 
derived the name of the Court of Quarter-Sessions. Besides 
the authority previously exeixnsed, the General Court pro- 
vided m 1692, the first year of the Provincial Government, 
that all orders and by-laws of to^^als should be approved by 
the justices in Quarter Sessions before they should become 
operative. This law remained in force until 1822, and the 
last edition of " Tlie By-Laws and (Jrders of the Town of 
Boston," issued in 1818, carried on its title-page the state- 
ment that they were "Duly Approved by the Court of 
Quarter Sessions." 

The people of Boston early became restive under this ar- 
rangement, and fully appreciated the advantages whicli would 



18 Seventy-Fifth Anniversary 

accrue to them if the town could be made a county by itself, 
relieved of the supervision and direction of justices ap- 
pointed by the Governor for a large county, of which Boston 
territorially only formed a very small part. As early as 1650, 
seven years after the establishment of Suffolk County, the 
town petitioned the General Court to be made into a separate 
county, a petition repeated in 1677, but both times without 
result. In 1708 the selectmen complained to the town 
that one great reason why the orders and by-laws of the 
town were not l)etter executed was " the want of a proper 
head or town officer or officers empowered for that purpose, 
the law having put the execution of town orders into the 
liands of the justices only, who are not town but county offi- 
cers." They proposed as a remedy that a charter of in- 
corporation should be drawn up, but when this had been 
prepared it was rejected by the town meeting. In 1793 
Norfolk County was established and Suffolk County was 
reduced to Boston and Chelsea. The county was thus 
reduced territorially nearly to the limits of the town ; but this 
by no means removed the objections to the exercise of execu- 
tive powers by the county justices. They exercised, beside 
tlie veto power over town by-laws, the powers of granting 
liquor licenses, of assessing county taxes, of discontinuing 
highways, of locatmg distilleries, potteries and slaughter- 
houses, and of appointing certain local officers. 

Down to 1807 the Court of Quarter-Sessions consisted of 
all the justices of the peace of the county, many of whom 
were laymen. In that year the court was made to consist of 
a Chief Justice and four associates. A Municipal Court had 
been established in 1800, particularly for the punishment of 
violations of town by-laws. Besides the Court of Quar- 
ter-Sessions and the Municipal Court there was a Court 
of Connnon Pleas, which was called the Town Court. 
The result was that the administration of justice was 
complicated and defective ; the final committee report, 



City Government of Boston. 19 

which resulted in the adoption of the city charter, pre- 
sented Dec. 10, 1821, declared that "the present mode 
of administering justice in the first stages is attended 
with many and growing abuses ; and though they have 
already attained to a very considerable extent, they 
must, unless prevented by an entire change in the system, 
produce eventually tlie most mischievous and immoral con- 
sequences." It was felt that a reorganization of the local 
courts could only be secured in connection with a change in 
the form of municipal government; and it was therefore 
partly for the object of securing a better administration of 
justice, and of obtaming relief from the exercise of executive 
and supervisory powers by the Court of Quarter-Sessions, 
that the city charter was adopted. The benefits to Boston 
of practically being a county by itself, and of having the 
county and city governments administered by the same 
authorities, have been very decided. 

Charter of 1822. 
Under the charter of 1822, while it was declared that 
the ]\Iayor should be " taken and deemed to be the chief 
executive officer" of the nnmicipal corporation, and that it 
should be his duty "to be vigilant and active at all times hi 
causing the laws for the government of tlie city to be en- 
forced," in reality he was given practically no executive 
powers except in common with the Board of Aldermen. The 
executive and legislative powers were absolutely commingled, 
except that the lower branch of the City Council was not 
supposed to have — although this was not strictly true in 
fact — any executive functions; the Board of Aldermen 
had a double character, Ijeing, in one aspect, one branch of 
a two-chambered council in which the legislative power was 
lodged, and, in another aspect, an executive body. 

The enumerated powers of the Mayor under the original 
charter (_and he had no others except in the capacity of a 



20 Seventy-Fifth Anniversary 

ninth member of tlie Board of Aldermen) were merely to 
preside, if present, at the meetings of the Mayor and Alder- 
men; to summon meetings of the City Council, or of either 
branch ; and to connnunicate information and to recommend 
measures from time to time to the City Council. Where 
appointments were directed to be made by the Mayor and 
Aldermen, the Mayor had, to be sure, the exclusive power of 
nommation ; but he liad no power of making an aj^point- 
ment, either temporarily or permanently^ independent of the 
board, and he had no power whatever of removal. 

The charter declared in its first section that " the adminis- 
tration of all the fiscal, prudential and numicipal concerns of 
said city, with the conduct and government thereof," should 
be vested in a Mayor, a Board of Aldermen and a Common 
Council. The Mayor and Aldermen were given " the admin- 
istration of police, together with the executive powers of the 
said corporation generally, together also with all the powers 
heretofore vested in the Selectmen of the town of Boston, 
either by the general laws of this Commonwealth, by par- 
ticular laws relative to the powers and duties of said Select- 
men, or by usages, votes or by-laws of said town." They 
were also given the power of granting licenses to inn-holders 
and victuallers, as well as for tlieatrical exhibitions and public 
shows, and wei'C further charged with the dut}^ of making up 
the lists of voters. 

In the City Council, acting by concurrent vote of the two 
branches, were vested "all other powers now by law vested in 
the town of Boston, or in the inhabitants thereof as a 
municipal corporation." The City Council was also ex- 
pressly given the power "to make all such needful and 
salutary by-laws as towns by tlie laws of this Commonwealth 
have power to make and establish," " to lay and assess taxes 
for all purposes for Avhich towns are by law required or 
authorized to assess and grant money," " to provide for 



City Government of Boston. 21 

the assessment and collection of such taxes, ' and to 
make appropriations of all public monej-s and provide for 
the disbursement thereof, and take suitable measures to 
ensure a just and prompt account thereof." It was further 
authorized either to elect assessors or to provide for the 
appointment or election of the same in some other manner, and 
to provide " for the appointment or election of all necessary 
officers for the good government of the city not otherwise 
provided for, to prescribe their duties and fix their com- 
pensation." The City Council was further given " the care 
and superintendence of the public buildings, and the care, 
custody and management of all the property of the city, 
with power to lease or sell the same (except the Common 
and Faneuil Hall), with power also to purchase property, real 
and personal, in the name and for the use of the city." All 
the powers of the Board of Healtli, which had been estal> 
lished in 1709, were also, most unfortunately, vested in the 
City Council, '•' to be carried uito execution by the appoint>- 
ment of Health Commissioners, or in some other proper 
manner." It was also expressly provided that the City 
Treasurer and City Clerk should be elected annually by the 
two T)ranches of the City Council in joint convention. 



Division bF Powers. 

To sum up, most of the legislative powers were exercised 
by the two branches of the City Council concurrently, but 
some by the Board of Mayor and Aldermen alone ; most of 
the executive powers were exercised by the Mayor and Alder- 
men alone, but some were shared with the Common Council. 
In a general way, the Mayor was the successor of the Chair- 
man of the Board of Selectmen ; the Mayor and Aldermen 
together were the successors of the Selectmen, the numl)er 
of Aldermen being retained at eight, which with the Mayor 
made nine, the number of the Selectmen under the town ; 
and the City Council was the successor of the town meeting. 



22 Seventy-Fifth Anniversaky 

though its powers in respect to the control of the executive 
officers were much more limited. Although it was provided 
in the charter that " all boards and officers acting under the 
authority of the said corporation, and entrusted with the 
expenditure of public money, shall be accountable therefor 
to the City Council, in such manner as they may direct," 
there does not seem to have been any manner m which that 
body could hold to any effective responsibility either the 
officers elected by the people, or those chosen by the Mayor 
and Aldermen. 

There were certain exceptions to the vesting of all the 
powers of the mimicipality in the Mayor and Aldermen and in 
the City Council. Tlie election of one Overseer of the Poor 
from each ward, which had been established under the town, 
Avas continued, and the Board of Overseers was to exercise 
the same powers which it had enjoyed under the town. A 
School Committee was also constituted, to consist of one 
person elected by the voters in each of the twelve wards, 
joined to the Mayor and Aldermen, making a body of 
twenty-one, who were to have " the care and superintendence 
of the public schools." The election of not less than three 
Firewards in each ward was also continued, who were to con- 
stitute the Board of Firewards and to have the powers for- 
merly exercised by the firewards of the town. 

Under the Constitution of the Commonwealth, as it then 
stood, a majority vote was required for the election of all 
state officers, successive ballotings being held, if necessary, 
until some candidate secured such majority. This rule was 
applied l)y the first charter to the choice of the Mayor, 
Aldermen and Connnon Councilmen. 

The charter also provided, as a sort of shadow of the town 
meeting, that " general meetings of the citizens qualified to 
vote m city affairs may, from time to time, be held to consult 
upon the common good, to give instructions to their repre- 
sentatives, and to take all lawful measures to obtain a 



City Government of Boston. 23 

redress of any grievances; " and it required that such meetings 
should he duly warned hy the Mayor and Aldermen upon 
the requisition of fifty qualified voters of the city. The 
instructions, however, were not ])inding, and no practical 
good came of this attempt to maintain pure democracy m 
combination with representative institutions. 

It is worthy of note that from Colony times the citizens of ■ 
Boston have held their local elections on a different date 
from that of the State election, and have therefore enjoyed 
almost from the beginning the advantages, now so generally 
recognized by municipal reformers, of separating, to some 
extent at least, local politics from those of the state or na- 
tion. 

Under the first charter the nnmicipal election was 
held on the second jMonday of April, and the municipal year 
began on the first day of May. By an act passed in 182-i 
the date of the municipal election was changed to the second 
Monday of December (subsequently again changed to the 
Tuesday next following the second Monday), and the 
municipal year was made to begin on the first Monday of 
January. 

Scheme of Government. 

The attempt to adhere as closely as possible to the form of 
government in a town resulted in confusion, dissipation of 
proper executive powers, and division of responsibility; errors 
which were not remedied until nearly two-thirds of a century 
later, by the passage of the charter amendment act of 1885. 
The Mayor was the chief executive only in name ; he was 
the figurehead of the corporation, but otherwise was practi- 
cally nothing but one member of the Board of Aldermen. 
What power he had was chiefly derived from the position 
which the charter gave him as presiding officer of the Board, 
and the right of appointing committees attaching, under 



24 Seventy-Fifth Anniversary 

parliamentaiy practice, to that office. If lie succeeded — as 
some INIayors of the city did m an eminent degree — m directs 
mg municipal affairs, in any real sense, it was by force of 
his individual character or abilities, not by virtue of any 
authority inherent in his office. His election by the people 
as the nominal head of the corporation gave him a certain 
prestige and influence, which he might be able to convert 
into actu.al, if not legal, power. Thus the second Mayor of 
the city was, within the first three years of his term, placed 
at the head of several important committees having the ex- 
penditure of money. 

It is curious to note how carefully the framers of the 
charter of 1822 seem to have closed their eyes to the les- 
sons which they might have drawn from the organization 
of the state and national governments. They adhered as 
closely as possible to the town as their political model, and 
endeavored to make the change from town habits of 
gOA^ernment as slight as possible. Under the consti- 
tution of the United States a government of limited 
powers had been successfully established, under which 
the three recognized branches of government, namely, the 
executive, legislative and judicial, were carefully separated 
and distinguished, each being given its appropriate authority 
and independence within its proper sphere. The constitution 
of the Conmionwealtli had wisely and explicitly declared in 
the Bill of Rights that the legislative department of the state 
government should never exercise executive or judicial power, 
that the executive department sliould never exercise legisla- 
tive or judicial power, and that the judicial department should 
never exercise legislative or executive power, " to the end 
that it may ])e a government of laws and not of men." 
The evils which had resulted from vesting executive powers 
in the judiciary, to be exercised by injunction or otherwise, 
furnished one strong incentive for adopting the city form 
of government ; the people of the town and the members of 



City Governrient of Boston, 25 

the Legislature are alike entitled to the credit of making an 
absolute separation in the incorporation of the new city be- 
tween the judiciary and the legislative and executive. But 
when it came to providing for the exercise of the executive 
and legislative powers, following the false analogy of the pure 
democracy of the town government, rather than the model of 
the representative governments of the United States and of 
the Commonwealth, these powers were hopelessly confused 
and mingled together. It was nearly two-thirds of a, century 
before the I^egislature returned, in defining the organization 
of the government of Boston, to the sound political principle 
declared in the constitution of the state in 1780, and finally 
gave to our people the benefit of a separation between the 
executive and legislative powers and authorities in their 
municipal government. 

Revised Charter of 1854. 

It was nearly a third of a century before the hrst compre- 
hensive revision of the city charter of 1822 was effected, 
although between that date and 1854 some thirteen amenda- 
tory acts had been passed. Mayor Bigelow, in retu'ing from 
office m 1852, after three years of service, had clearly pointed 
out the defects of the charter in respect to the exercise of 
the executive powers of the corporation and the duties of the 
Mayor. He urged that these duties should be purely of an 
executive character, and that the Mayor should be relieved 
of membership in the Board of Aldermen and the School 
Committee. At the Mayoralty election of 1853 three politi- 
cal parties had candidates in the field, and, under the majority 
requu'ement, it took three trials to secure an election. This 
doubtless led the General Court to establish, by Chapter 39 
of the Acts of 1854, the rule that only a plurality vote 
should be required to elect at all toA^ai, city and count}^ elec- 
tions. A revised charter was drawn up under tlie direction 
of the city government of 1854, and was passed by the 



26 Seventy-Fifth Anniversary 

Legislature subject to approval hy the people, which approval 
it received at the State election of that year. 

Whether the result Avas intended or not by the framers of 
this charter, the movement which had started in a desire to give 
the Mayor more executive power, ended m depriving him of a 
large part of the little he already had, and in still further re- 
ducmg him to a figurehead. In order to make hun more 
purely an executive officer, he was deprived of his vote in 
the Board of Aldermen, in which body the executive power 
was chiefly lodged, though he was left the somewhat empty 
privilege of presidmg over its deliberations. The board was 
to choose, however, a permanent chairman, to preside in the 
absence of the Mayor, and to succeed to the office of 
Mayor in case of a vacancy. The act practically con- 
firmed and increased the powers of the Aldermen. The term 
"Mayor and Aldermen " meant the Aldermen, as it was pro- 
vided that " where anything is or may be required or author- 
ized b}^ any law or ordinance to be done by the Mayor and 
Aldermen, the Aldermen shall first act thereon." The Mayor 
obtamed, to be sure, the right to remove officers nominated by 
him for confirmation by the Board of Aldermen; but as 
nearly all the important officers of the city were to be chosen 
by the City Council, entirely independently of the Mayor, this 
was of comparatively little account. In order that he might 
be more free to attend to the duties of chief executive of the 
city, which the charter nominally vested in him, the Mayor 
was relieved of the burden of membership in the Board of 
Aldermen, but if he attempted to find out what powers 
went with the high-soun(,lmg title of " chief executive," 
he soon discovered that, except for the mfluence which 
his position might give him, he had, outside of the veto 
power, much less authority than an Alderman, if, indeed, he 
had as much as a Common Councilman. He could preside 
over the Board, but he could not directly answer even grossly 
personal attacks upon himself — and such were sometimes 
made. 



City Governrient of Boston. 27 

The charter of 1854 did, indeed, for the first time, give to 
the Mayor a limited power of veto over all votes of the 
Board of Aldermen, all votes which required to be passed by- 
concurrent vote of the two branches of the City Council, and 
all votes of the Common Council involving the expenditure 
of money. Tliis power, though a negative one, has certainl}'- 
proved of much practical importance ; and thus, while the 
positive mfluence of the Mayor as a factor in legislation was 
reduced by taking away his vote in the Board of Aldermen, 
his power to prevent legislative action was very greatly m- 
creased by giving him the veto. Until 1885, however, he 
had to reject appropriation bills in gross, though he might 
favor all the items but one or two. The power of approv- 
ing only good items has proved to be of immense benefit. 

Joint Committees. 

The charter of 1854 is also notable for the express recog- 
nition which it gave to joint committees, and to the practice 
of administration by committees. The Connnon Council had 
made strenuous endeavors to compel the Aldermen, through 
the constitution of joint conunittees, to share with them the 
larger powers enjoyed by the upper branch ; the new 
charter expressly recognized this practice, and, moreover, pro- 
vided that the City Council might constitute either a joint 
committee, or a special committee of either branch, as a 
Board of Health, either for general or for particular pur- 
poses. The express authority thus given to the City Council 
to entrust the exercise of important executive powers to a 
committee, making its members practically department heads, 
may be considered the beginning of the establishment of 
that recognized system of administration by committees which 
lasted do^vn to 1885. 

This charter made a radical change in the constitution 
of the School Committee. Instead of being composed of 
one member elected from each of the twelve wards, together 



28 Seventy-Fifth Anniversary 

with the the INIayor and Aldermen, makmg twenty-threee 
in all, it was to consist of the Mayor, the President of 
the Common Council, and seA^enty-two members, six elected 
from each of the tAvelve wards, two of whom were to be 
chosen each year for a term of three years. This seems to 
have been the first provision for choosing any elective officer 
of the city for a longer term than one year. 

Election and Salaries of the City Government. 

The new charter contained a provision for the election of 
Aldermen by wards, instead of at large, but this was subject 
to acceptance by the people by a separate vote, and it was 
rejected by a somewhat narrow margin ; so that the old 
method of election of Aldermen on a general ticket con- 
tinued down to 1885, the only change being that their num- 
ber was raised from eight to twelve, to correspond with 
the number of wards then existing. In 1885, under an 
act passed by the preceding Legislature without submission 
to the people, the election of Aldermen hj districts was 
established. But in 1893 the Legislature agam passed an 
act, subject this time to acceptance by the people, returning 
to the system of election at large ; providing, however, that 
no person should have the right to vote for more than seven 
candidates, and this act received the requu"ed popular approval. 

There was no provision under either the charter of 1822 or 
that of 1854 for the payment of members of the City Council. 
The city was first authorized to provide for the payment of 
salaries to members of the Board of Aldermen by an act passed 
ill 1888 ; in 1896 another act was passed, and accepted by the 
people, providing for the payment of a salary of $300 each to 
memliers of the Common Council. The salary of the Mayor 
under both charters was to be fixed by the City Council, but 
was not to exceed the sum of |5,000 per annum ; it began at 
the sum of |2,500 in 1822, was increased to -13,000 in 1855, 
to 14,000 in 1856, to l|5,000 in 1864, and finally by authority 
of the Act of 1885 to $10,000. 



City Government of Boston. 29 

Mayous of the City. 

During the seventy-five years oi" the Jiistoi-y of llie citv, 
Boston has liad tliirty-one different mayors, so tliat the aver- 
age term of service in the mayoral t)- has l)een about two 
and a half years. Nine Iiave served for only a, single 3'ear, 
twelve for two years (two of these, however. Mayors Pierce 
and I^rince, having been elected for a one-year term at 
two different times), eight for three years, two for four 
years, and one, Frederic W. Lincoln, living to-day at the 
age of eighty, and still in the service of the city as treasurer 
of the Overseers of the Poor, has enjoyed the unique distinc- 
tion of serving as Mayor for seven years, three at one time, 
and four at another. All of the mayors have been born in 
Massachusetts, except two who were born in New Hamp- 
shire, one each in Connecticut and iNlaine and one in Ire- 
land. In only one case has a mayor died in office; aiul the 
only resignation occurred Avlien tlie late jAlayor Pierce resigned 
about a month before the expiration of his term in 1873, to 
occupy the seat in Congress to which he had been elected. 

The total vote cast for Ma3a)r increased from 3,700 in 
1822, to 8,896 at the end of the first quarter century period 
in 1817, and to 17,716 at the end of the second quarter 
century in 1872 ; the vote rose at the State election in 
1896 to 82,198 votes cast for President. In the present 
year the registered voters of tlie city ma}- for the first time 
reach the 100,000 mark. 

Departments IIndek the Town. 
In taking up the present departments of the city govern- 
ment, it may be well to see in the first place how' many of 
them can be said to have had any existence under tlie town. 
The Selectmen were first chosen by that name to serve for a 
full year in 1645, previous elections having l)een for a shorter 
period and under a different designation. The early Selectmen 
assumed and exercised certain legislative powers, as well as 



30 Seventy-Fifth Anniversary 

executive functions, and therefore under the charter of 1822 
they were succeeded in certain respects by the City Comicil, 
though chiefly by the Mayor and Aklermen. Overseers 
of the Poor were first chosen in 1690, consisting at first 
of four persons, though the kiw of the Province author- 
izing towns to choose such officers was not passed until 
two years later. In 1772 the Overseers were mcorporated, 
by special act, and the first charter had a clause providing for 
the election of one Overseer from each ward. As the Board 
of Overseers gradually acquired or took jurisdiction over 
in-door as well as out-door relief, over the care of the 
msane, and over the workhouse, it must be regarded as the 
origmal predecessor of what was until recently the Institu- 
tions Department. Down to 1799 the duty of protecting 
the public health was vested in the Selectmen, but in that 
year a separate Board of Health was established, consisting 
of twelve persons, and ward elections were first instituted 
to provide for the choice of one member of this board from 
each ward. This important duty was soon remitted to the 
Board of Aldermen. 

Beside these two important town departments which were 
both provided for by statute and seem to have been largely, 
if not entirely, independent of the Selectmen, certain offices 
had been established more or less under the control of the 
Selectmen, which can be regarded as forerunners at least of 
present departments. The constable was the earliest town 
officer, and liis duties occupy a number of pages in our 
Colonial Law which seems now disproportionate. Wliile he 
combined other duties with those which the title imported, 
lie rei)]-esented the police power of the state, and must there- 
fore be regarded as the germ from which the present Board 
of Police has developed. The employment of a night watch 
Wiis authorized liy the General Court in 1699, and the dis- 
tinction between the night Avatch and the police for daytime 
duty was kept up until the revision of the charter in 1854. 



City Government of Boston. 31 

The police department proper began in 1786, and became, 
comj^lete in 1799 through the appointment of a superintendent 
of police. 

The treasurer's department dates from 1641 ; that of 
the city clerk, as a separate department, from 1650, the 
treasurer having- been also the town recorder for the nine 
years previous to that time. Tlie office of Recorder, now 
represented by the City Registrar, was one of those American 
improvements made by our ancestors, to the great gain of 
their descendants. Our records of vital statistics surpass 
those of England. The market department may be said to 
date from 1619, when a "clerk of the market" was first 
chosen. The department of weights and measures dates 
from 1640, when a sealer was hrst chosen. The street 
department and the street laying-out department may both 
be said to date from 1638, when surveyors of highways 
were first elected. • 

The germ of the present assessmg department is found 
in the election as early as 1646 of a special commissioner 
to assist the selectmen in tlie valuation of property. In 
1694 regular assessors were first chosen; in 1792 it was 
provided that two assistant assessors should be chosen Ijy 
each of the twelve wards, who should in turn choose the 
principal assessors. 

While a Latin school had been established in tlie year 
1635, the pul)lic school system properly dates from 1684, 
when grannnar schools under tlie control of the Selectmen 
were first establislied. The Selectmen continued to manage 
the schools until 1789, when a School Committee was first 
chosen, consisting of the nine Selectmen and twelve persons 
chosen by the town. Primary schools were not made a part 
of the public school system until 1818, and they were placed 
under a separate committee of thirty-eight persons, three 



32 Seventy-Fifth Anniversary 

from eacli ward, who were appointed by the School Com- 
mittee and were known as the Primary School Conunit- 
tee, and this system lasted until 1855. While the select- 
men liad had charge from the first of tlie extinguishment of 
fires, a separate fire department may he said to have had 
its origin with the first choice of fire wards in the year 
1 041 . The street lightmg service dates from the installa- 
tion of 310 lamps in the year 1773 ; under the town it 
seems to have heen under the administration of the Select- 
men, 

Of the present thirty-tliree executive departments under 
the Mayor, hereafter to be mentioned, we therefore find that 
sixteen, namely the Assessing, Fire, Health, Institutions 
(four in number). Lamp, Law, Market, Overseeing of the 
Poor, Registry, Street, Treasury and Weights-and-Measures 
Departments can be considered as liaving a more or less 
clearly-defined existence at the time of the mstitution of the 
city government. 

Establishment of City Departments. 

In no way can the development of the municipal organiza- 
tion be more strikingly seen than m noting the establishment 
from time to time of the different departments through which 
the government of the city is now carried on. The origmal 
city charter only required (outside of the Mayor, Board of 
Aldermen, Common Council and ward officers), tlie choice of 
Firewards, Overseers of the Poor and a School Committee, to 
be elected by the people, and of Assessors of Taxes, a City 
Treasurer and a City Clerk, to be chosen by the CAtj Council. 
These, therefore, w^ere the only departments of the city gov- 
ernment originally established by the legislature. Any other 
oifices that might be found necessary were left to be created 
by the City Council. 

Of the present thirty-three departments of the city gov- 
ernment under the Mayor, taking them in alphabetical order, 



City Governinient of Boston. 33 

the Assessors were inherited from the town. The office of 
City Auditor was established in 1824. The Buikling De- 
partment was created by statute in 1871. The office of 
Collector of Taxes was separated from that of Treasurer in 
1875. The Board of Elections was established by the charter 
amendment act of 1895, succeeding the Board of Registrars 
of Voters, instituted in 1874, the duty of preparing lists of 
voters prior to that time having been performed by the Mayor 
and Aldermen. The office of City Engineer grew out of the 
introduction of water, and dates from 1850. 

A salary was first paid to the Chief Engineer of the Fire 
Department in 1829. The office had existed for some time 
previous, Ixit the service had been performed gratuitously, 
and the establishment of a salary for the Chief Engineer may 
be regarded as the beginning of the Fire Department, in tlie 
modern sense of the term, though nominally established by act 
of the legislature in 1825 ; however, the men of the department 
were first placed upon a paid basis in 1837. In 1850 an act 
was passed reorganizing the Fire Department and authorizing 
the City Council to estal)lish a board to act as its head ; but 
down to 1873 this power was not exercised, the Chief En- 
gineer and Assistant Engineers being chosen by the City 
Council, while the members of the fire companies were ap- 
pointed by the ]Mayor. In that year, as a result of the great 
fire of 1872, the department was placed under a Board of Fire 
Commissioners, three in number, and they Avere succeeded in 
1895 by the present single commissioner. The Boston 
Protective Department was incorporated in 1874. 

The first Board of Health was established in 1799, under 
the statute })assed l)y the (jeneral Court in tliat year, and 
continued down to 1822. While the charter provided that 
the City Council might provide for the exercise of the health 
powers through a l)oard of commissioners, or otherwise, that 
body did not see fit until fifty years later, in 1872, to establish 



34 Seventy-Fifth Anniversary 

a regular Board of Health. During this period the health 
powers were exercised by the City Council, actmg through a 
committee. 

From very early times a hospital for contagious cases had 
been maintained on Rainsford Island, but it was not until 
1858 that the city was authorized by act of the legisla- 
ture "to erect, establish and maintain a hospital for the 
reception of persons who, by misfortune or poverty, may 
require relief during temporary sickness." This act pro- 
vided for the appointment of trustees for managing the 
hospital. The present City Hospital buildings were begun 
in 18G1, and opened for use in 1864. In 1880 the trustees 
were incorporated and authorized to receive gifts and be- 
quests, and their number was fixed at five. 

The four present departments of Penal Institutions, Pau- 
pers, Children and Insane, may be said to date from the 
establishment in 1857 of the Board of Directors of Public 
Institutions, consisting of three members of the City Coun- 
cil and nine citizens at large, three of whom were elected 
annually for the term of three years. This board served 
without pay, and lasted until 1889, though the three mem- 
bers of the City Council were dropped from it in 1885, 
under the charter amendment act of that year, reducing the 
board to nine in number. In 1889 it was replaced by a 
board of three salaried commissioners, which in turn gave 
place, in 1895, to a single Institutions Commissioner; the 
present j-ear has seen this officer changed to a Penal Institu- 
tions Commissioner, while new boards of trustees, consisting 
of seven members each (of whom two must be women), have 
been created to have charge of Paupers, Insane persons and 
Children ; and an Institutions Registration Department has 
also been established. The Penal Institutions Department 
may be said to date back to the establishment, in 1824, of 
the House of Correction on the present site m South Boston, 
with a sejjarate board of directors. 



City Government of Boston. 35 

There has l)een a Supermteiident of Lamps smce 1843, 
but the office was under the Police Department until 1854. 

Though the office of Town Attorney was established dur- 
ing the latter years of the town government, the city had no 
regular legal adviser for several years. The office of Attor- 
ney and Solicitor was established by ordhiance in 1827, 
and the office of Corporation Counsel in 1881. 

The Library Department dates from 1852, when the first 
Librarian and Board of Trustees were appointed, though an 
Act was passed by the General Court in 1848 authoriz- 
ing the city to appropriate money for a free public library, 
and some gifts of money and books had been received in 
1850. The circulating department of the Librarj^ was 
opened in 1854, and the old Library building on Boylston 
street was dedicated in 1858. Authorit}^ to establish branch 
libraries was given in 1869. The Library Trustees were 
incorporated, and their number fixed at five, in 1878, and in 
1880 the state gave the piece of land upon which the pres- 
ent Library building stands. The trustees were given en- 
tire control of the erection and management of the new 
building in 1887, and it was opened for use in 1895. 

The present Market Department })roperly dates from the 
opening of Quincy Market in LS2G, though the officer in 
charge continued to be designated by the old colonial title of 
"Clerk of the Market" down to 1852, when the present 
office of superintendent was estal)lished l)y ordinance. 

The present Cemetery Department, consisting of a board 
of five trustees, established by the statute passed by the 
legislature of the present year, is the successor, though 
with broader powers and duties, of the INIount Hope Ceme- 
tery Department ; this cemetery was purchased by the 
city in 1857, the l)oard of trustees being established by 



36 Seventy-Fifth Anniversary 

ordinance in the same year. In earlier times there liad been 
a superintendent of burial grounds. 

The Board of (3verseers of the Poor has already been 
spoken of. Down to 1823 it had charge of both in-door and 
out-door relief, and of correction. The House of Indus- 
try was removed from its control in 1823, the House of 
Correction in 1824 and the House of Reformation in 1826. 

In 1870 an act was passed by the Legislature, subject to 
acceptance by the voters of Boston, under which a board of 
nine Park Commissioners was to be created, four to be 
appointed by the Governor, with the power to lay out one or 
more parks. This act required a two-thirds vote for its accept- 
ance, and while it received a large majority, it fell somewhat 
short of this requirement. The annexations of 1874 led to 
the passage of another park act in 1875 ; this was accepted 
by the people, though by a very light vote, and the first Board 
of Park Commissioners was appointed that year. Perhaps no 
other department of the city government has since done as 
much to make Boston an attractive place of residence. 

The office of Superintendent of Printing was established 
in 1871. Its importance has been very greatly increased by 
the opening of a municipal printing plant during the cur- 
rent year. 

The Public Buildings Department was established by 
ordinance in 1850. 

A Superintendent of the Common was first appointed by 
the Mayor in 1853. The Department of Public Grounds 
was not established by ordinance, however, until 1870. 

The oiTice of City Registrar was established in 1849 by 
ordinance. In 1892 it was made a State office by law, to 
perform duties which elsewhere are confided to city luid 
town clerks. 



City Government of Boston. 37 

The office of Sealer of Weights and Measures, dating back 
to colonial times, was established by statute in 1800. In 
1817 another act was passed defining the duties of this 
office. 

The Board of Sinking Fund Commissioners was estab- 
lished by ordinance in 1870. 

The Street Department, as at present organized, only dates 
from 1891, Sewers, Paving, Sanitary, Police and Bridges hav- 
ing prior to that time been under separate departments. 
The Ferries were added to this department by the charter 
amendment act of 1895. The first regular ferry to East 
Boston appears to have been established in 1833. In 1852 
the East Boston Ferry Company was incorporated, subject to 
certain control on the part of the city, and acquired the fer- 
ries ; and the ferry property was purchased by the city in 
1870. 

The Water Department dates from 1846, when commis- 
sioners were appointed to bring the Lake Cochituate supply 
to the city, the introduction of water being duly cele- 
brated on Oct. 25, 1848. In 1849 a Cochituate Water Board 
was established by ordinance, to consist of a commissioner, 
an engineer and a water registrar, together with the Commits 
tee on Water. In 1850 the board was changed so as to 
consist of one Alderman, one member of the Common Coun- 
cil, and five citizens at large. A paid board of three 
members was appointed in 1876, in consequence of the an- 
nexation of Charlestown, bringing the Mystic water supply 
under the control of the city, and this board continued until 
1895, when under the charter amendment act of that year 
it was replaced by a single commissioner. 



The Wire Department was established by statute passed 
in 1894. 



38 Seventy-Fifth Anniversary 

the relation of the city to the state. 

In considering tlie relations between Boston and the Com- 
monwealth, it should be remembered that a city has a double 
character. It is primarily an organ for local government, a 
body politic for the satisfaction of local wants; it is secon- 
darily an administrative agency of the state government, 
charged with the duty of securing, within a local sphere, the 
execution of state laws general in their application. It 
is important that this dual capacity of the munici- 
pal corporation should be kept constantly in mind, and 
that these two functions should l^e clearly distinguished. 
Complete local self-government involves full local con- 
trol of purely municipal concerns; but it does not require 
that the state should refrain from using the municipal 
machinery for carrying general laws into effect, or from con- 
trolling its organization to the extent necessary for that 
purpose. \¥hen we come to define tlie limits between these 
tAvo kinds of municipal activity, and to say in what matters 
the city should be regarded as acting as a local government, 
and in what other matters as the agent of the higher govern- 
ment, there is room for much difference of opinion, particu- 
larly if we inquire not only where it is logical, but where it is 
wise, to establish the bounds of state authority. To take a 
conspicuous illustration of a piece of municipal machinery 
which fulfils this double function : our Board of Elections is 
but a mere department of the city government in so far as 
it has to do with elections to city offices, while it is unques- 
tionably a governmental agency of the Commonwealth in 
so far as it has to do with state elections. The Board of 
Assessors, in like manner, nuist be regarded as an agency of 
the Conunonwealth in so far as its work affects the distribu- 
tion of state taxes, the School Committee in so far as it is 
carrying into effect the state law as to compulsory education, 
and the Board of Health in so far as it is executing statutes 
for the protection of the general public health, which is 



City Government of Boston. 39 

affected by dangers tliat entirel}^ disregard nniiiicipal 
boundaries. 

Of the thirty-three executive departments under the 
control of the JNIayor, perhaps nine may be regarded as estab- 
lished partly, though not wholly in any case, for the ex- 
ecution of state laws ; the other twenty-four are merely 
convenient divisons in the scheme of purely municipal 
organization. Of the executive authorities independent of 
the Mayor, the School Committee is entrusted with the charge 
of educational work a large portion of which is, in very 
general terms, required by state law, but which would doubt- 
less be carried on by the city about as at present without any 
statutory requirement. The justice and expediency of estab- 
lishing the Police Department as an independent organiza- 
tion created by the state, for the enforcement both of its 
laws and of the ordinances of the city, is a controverted 
question. While asserting its paramount right to establish 
a state police force, maintained at local expense, for the 
enforcement of the laws within municipal limits, the Com- 
monwealth has thus far made the exercise of such right a 
question of expediency in each particular case. 



State Legislation. 

A good idea of the chief directions in whicii legishitive 
control over the city of Boston has been asserted, is obtained 
by an examination of the special laws relating to the city 
which have been passed since its incorporation. These have 
been compiled by the Law Department from time to time 
and published by the city, and, including the acts of the pres- 
ent year, now make up a volume of over seven hundred pages, 
containing about the same number of separate acts. A 
classification of some of these acts under general headings is 
instructive. From 1822 to 1897, inclusive, there have been 
passed by the Legislature about the following numbers of 



40 Seventy-Fifth Anniversary 

special acts affecting the city of Boston, or the municipalities 
now annexed to the city, relative to the following subjects : — 

Streets and sidewalks 79 

Bridges ......... 43 

Water supply and distribution 42 

Courts and other judicial matters 40 

Construction and safety of buildings . . . .37 
Organization of the city government or departments 

thereof . ....... 34 

Grantmg special incorporations, or affectmg the rights 

of private corporations ...... 34 

Parks and plaj^grounds ...... 32 

Sewers and drainage ....... 31 

Penal and charitable institutions . . . . .25 

Elections and election machinery . . . . .22 

Constables and police ....... 20 

Protection from fire, and Fire Department . . .20 
Boston Harbor ........ 19 

Annexations of territory or changes in boundary lines . 1 8 
Schools and the School Committee . . . .13 

Public Health 12 

Public Library ........ 11 

An analysis of these statutes indicates very clearly, on 
the one hand, that many acts have been passed by the 
Legislature relative to matters which might easily have been 
entrusted to local control, without any surrender of the 
proper sovereignty of the state, and that it has undoubtedly 
been too much inclined to regulate some things which 
could have been dealt with by the city itself under the gen- 
eral powers granted by the charter; it is, therefore, to 
some extent true that the General Court has acted as the 
legislative bod}^ of the city. But such an examination also 
discloses the fact that a large proportion of the acts included 
in the above classification were, for one reason or another, 



City Government of Boston. 41 

beyond the scope of municipal control, and were, therefore, 
proper subjects for the exercise of the legislative power of the 
state. Obviously it has been necessary that this power sliould 
be exercised wherever the joint action of two municipalities 
was required, as in cases of annexations of territory or changes 
in boundary lines, or of inter-municipal bridges. Jurisdic- 
tion over the shores of the harbor has also necessarily rested 
with the Commonwealth. Most of the acts relative to 
water have involved the granting to the city of Boston of 
the right to acquire land and construct works within the 
limits of other municipalities. Of course, jurisdiction over 
the courts properly belongs exclusively to the Common- 
wealth; and the regulation of elections is also clearly its 
function. 

The greatest room for differences of opinion in regard 
to the proper limits between state and municipal authority 
is doubtless to be found in matters relating to tlie organi- 
zation of the city government and its departments. Under 
our State Constitution it must be conceded that it belongs to 
the Legislature to fix, in the first instance, the framework of 
a local government, subject to acceptance by the voters of the 
municipality before it is adopted. The city of Boston started 
with a scheme of government which was not only approved by 
the voters of the town after its adoption by the Legislature, 
but was drafted by the town for presentation to the Legis- 
lature. The prmciple of municipal autonomy was not there- 
fore violated when the city was instituted. The charter 
revision of 1854 was also formally approved by the voters 
before it went into effect, and was petitioned for by the city 
council. 

Charter Acts of 1885 and of 1895. 

When we come to the important charter amendment act 

of 1885, however, we find that a different course was 

adopted, and that the legislature saw fit to exercise its 

full power without submitting its action to local approval. 



42 Seventy-Fifth Anniversary 

It may be open to doubt whether so radical a change in the 
distribution of the powers of the city government would 
have been ratified by the voters of Boston at that time if the 
act had been submitted to popular vote ; and certainly the 
City Council could hardly have been expected to assent to so 
great a curtailment of its powers. But at the present time it 
may be conceded that the change thus wrought has upon the 
Avhole been a highly beneficial one, and that it has produced 
more responsible, efficient and coherent executive government. 
Again, the charter amendment act of 1895, extending the 
term of the Mayor to two years, substituting single commis- 
sioners in place of paid boards at the head of the Fire, Water 
and Institutions Departments, and establishing the Board of 
Elections, was not submitted to local approval, and it is 
doubtful whether such approval could have been secured; 
but its results have thus far apparently been good. In 
the last three-quarters of a century a very considerable 
number of important acts have been referred to popular 
vote, and in passing the act of the present year for the con- 
solidation of the Board of Aldermen and the Common Council 
mto a single chaml)er, the Legislature has agam properly sub- 
mitted its action to the voters of Boston. 

On the wdiole, therefoi'e, while in a very few instances the 
Legislature has passed important acts affecting the organiza- 
tion of the City Government without regard to local senti- 
ment at the time, and while the wisdom of some of these 
acts has been disputed, yet it must in fairness be aclaiowl- 
edged that in the main the General Court has shown, in 
all matters of consequence, a large consideration for the views 
of our citizens, and has been disposed to accord to them, to 
a very great extent, the right of passing upon questions 
vitally affecting their local government. 

When we come to the minor acts affecting the organization 
of the various departments, it may well be claimed that the 
Legislature has shown too much disposition to establish 



City Governmtjnt of Boston. 43 

municipal departments by legislation, and has been too unwill- 
ing to let the city of Boston work out the salvation of local 
government for itself. It would perhaps be too much to 
expect that the Legislature sliould submit to the acceptance 
either of the City C^ouncil or of the voters every act relating 
to the city of Boston ; l)ut it seems clear that since the char- 
ter revision of 1885 the City Council lias not enjoyed, — partly 
perhaps through its own fault, — what should be its legitimate 
influence over the framing and enactment of legislation for 
the city. This function lias of late devolved almost wliolly 
upon the INIayor, and lias constituted one of the most import- 
ant duties of his office. For the last ten years the different 
Mayors have been forced to exercise a large influence in 
securing the passage of an important and comprehensive body 
of laws affecting the city. 

Advantages of being the Capital of the State. 

In connection with state legislation it should be noted tliat 
Boston has occupied a peculiarly advantageous position in 
comparison with other large American cities. As a rule, 
the largest city of a state is not its capital ; New York, 
Philadelphia, Baltimore, Chicago, St. Louis and Cincinnati 
are illustrations. But a large city necessarily suffers greatly 
in influence by being remote from the seat of legislation, and 
by being compelled to present from a distance its views on 
legislative matters. The great advantage which our city has 
enjoyed in being the capital of the state, as well as its largest 
city, as affecting its treatment by the Legislature, has not been 
appreciated at its true importance. If the capital had been 
removed to Worcester three-quarters of a century ago, Boston 
would certainly have enjoyed much less consideration than she 
has in fact received. L^pon the whole, our people have not had 
much cause to complain either of the attention whicli the Legis- 
lature has given to Boston matters, or of the consideration 
which local views have received. If there be truth in the 
statement that the Legislature has in many matters acted as 



44 Seventy-Fifth Anniveksary 

the City Council of Boston, it must at least be admitted that 
full opportunity to be heard has always been afforded to our 
citizens before committees of the Legislature ; and in no in- 
stance, probably, has any measure affecting the city been 
passed which met with the general opposition of its repre- 
sentatives, without distinction of party. When our members 
of the Legislature are divided upon a measure, the question 
is necessarily settled by the votes of representatives from 
outside of the city ; but with any reasonable unity of effort 
it is nearly always in their power either to prevent the pas- 
sage of special legislation affecting the city to which they 
are opposed, or to secure the passage of such legislation 
when they favor it. It must also be admitted that, with rare 
exceptions, jjartisan political considerations have failed to 
control the action of the Legislature in dealing with the city. 

PRESENT Distribution of Powers. 

The executive and legislative functions of the government 
of the city are now divided between five different authori- 
ties, wholly or partially independent of each other, four 
elected separatel}^ by the people, and the fifth appointed by 
the Governor of the Commonwealth. These five authorities 
are the Mayor, the City Council, the School Committee, the 
Board of. Street Commissioners and the Board of Police. 
The Mayor exercises exclusively the executive powers of the 
city (subject to the confirmation of many of his most im- 
portant appointments by the Board of Aldermen), except 
such as are vested in the School Committee, the Board of 
Street Commissioners and the Board of Police. The execu- 
tive powers of the two former bodies are to a certain extent 
under the control of the Mayor, as his approval is required 
for certain action by the School Committee, and for most 
of the acts of the Street Commissioners ; even in the case 
of the police, the Mayor is authorized to assume paramount 
control in case of "tumult, riot, or violent disturbance of 
public order." 



City Government of Boston. 45 

The City Council exercises exclusively the legislative pow- 
ers of the city, except that certain of these powers are exer- 
cised by the Board of Aldermen alone, and that the jNlayor 
has a limited veto power over all legislative action of the 
City Comicil or of either branch thereof ; hut the full legis- 
lative power of the municipal corporation is restricted by 
certain riglits given to the Scliool Committee by general law, 
and to the Board of Police by special act, to draw upon the 
city treasury without any appropriation. 

Thus we have in our executive government to-day first, a 
chief executive authority, the Mayor, entirely independent of 
any other executive control, but not possessmg those limited 
portions of the full executive powers of the city which are 
otherwise vested, namely, — second, in the School Committee, 
— third, in the Street Commissioners, — and fourth, in the 
Board of Police. In our legislative government we have first, 
the City Council as a whole, having the general powers of rais. 
ing and appropriating money; second, the Board of Aldermen 
acting alone, having the power of granting franchises, loca- 
tions, and some licenses, etc.; third, the School Committee, 
and fourth, the Board of Police, both having certain inde- 
pendent financial powers properly legislative in their nature ; 
while, fifth, the Mayor has a qualified veto upon all legislative 
acts of the City Covnicil, or either branch tliereof, and upon 
certain action of the School Committee. 

This division of the executive powers of the city seems 
unavoidable under tlie present methods of choosing the three 
executive authorities other than the jNIayor, as it would be an 
anomaly to make one set of officers, deriving their authority 
directly from the people, subject to the direction of another 
officer deriving his authority in like manner ; and obviously 
it would l)e impracticable to make officers appointed by tlie 
Governor (representing the supreme power of the State and 
responsible to him) subject to the control of the INIayor. It 



46 Seventy-Fifth Anniversary 

might be possible, however, in the mterest of centralized 
financial control, which is now partly lacking in our govern- 
ment, to give the Mayor that veto power over all expendi- 
tures of money which he now possesses over the greater part 
of them. At present he exercises no practical control over 
the expenditures of the School Committee and of the Police 
Department, aggregating for the present year $3,965,000, 
and amounting to 35 per cent of the total current depart- 
ment expenditures of the city. 

Executive Departments in 1897. 
The executive powers entrusted wholly to the Mayor are 
now divided among thirty-three different executive depart- 
ments, namely, the Assessing, Auditing, Building, Cemetery, 
Children's Institutions, Collecting, Elections, Engineering, 
Fire, Health, Hospital, Insane Hospital, Institutions, Regis- 
tration, Lamps, Law, Library, Market, Overseeing of the 
Poor, Parks, Pauper Institutions, Penal Institutions, Piint- 
ing. Public Buildings, Public Grounds, Registry, Sinking- 
funds, Statistics, Street, Treasury, Inspection of Vessels and 
Ballast, Water, Weights and Measures, and Wire Depart- 
ments. Of course the powers and duties of some of thes(i 
departments have been fixed by statute. 

Nineteen of these departments are under single heads, all 
salaried officers, except the Inspectors of Vessels and Ballast, 
who are paid by fees ; three departments, namely, those of 
Assessing, Elections and Health, are under salaried boards, 
consisting of nine, four and three members respectively; 
and one, the Law Department, has a dual (salaried) head, 
tlie Corporation Counsel and the City Solicitor jointly. 
The remaining ten departments are controlled by unpaid 
boards, the Parks being under a board of tlu-ee, the City 
Hospital, the Public Library, the Cemeteries and Statistics 
being each under a board of five, the Sinking-funds under 
a board of six. Paupers, Insane persons and Children each 



City Government of Boston. 47 

under a board of seven, and the Board of Overseers of the 
Poor numbering twelve. Thus no less than sixty-two per- 
sons are now serving the city gratuitously as members of 
department boards, against thirty-seven heads of departments 
who are paid for their services. For the current year the 
sum of about $1,400,000, — if the proper proportion of the 
appropriation made at the beginning of the year for the Insti- 
tutions Department is divided between the new institutions 
boards — amounting to about one-eighth of the total current 
expenditures of the executive departments of the city under 
the control of the Mayor, Avill l)e dislmrsed by unpaid boards. 

Of the single heads of departments all now have a term of 
one year, except the Building, Fire, Penal Institutions, Water 
and Wire Commissioners, each of whom have been given a 
three-year term. Each member of the Board of Assessors 
and of the Board of Health is appointed for three years, and 
each member of the Board of Elections for four years. 

The terms of the members of three of the unpaid boards 
are three years, while those of the members of the remaining 
seven boards are five years, so that the latter constitute the 
most stable element in the city government at the present 
time. Eleven women are now serving as members of boards, 
a much larger numljer than at any time in the past historj^ 
of the city. 

It is interesting to note that of these thirty-three executive 
departments, no less than twenty-two have been created by 
statute, and only eleven by ordinance. The salaries paid to 
heads of departments range from $3,000 to $7,500, and the 
total compensation of the heads of the twenty-two executive 
departments receiving salaries now amounts to the sum of 
$151,000 a year, or an average of about $6,500 for each 
department. 



48 Seventy-Fifth Anniversary 

Perhaps it is not too much to claim for Boston that she has 
finally, at the end of three qnarters of a century of experience, 
arrived at the proper organization of the executive departments 
in respect to the three kinds of heads above mentioned. It 
can be said this year for the first time that every department 
has at its head that one of the thi*ee forms of control best 
adapted to its character. 

Unpaid Boards. 

In studying the question whether single salaried officers, 
salaried boards, or unpaid boards, achieve the best results in 
a. city government as heads of executive departments, one 
of the first conclusions reached is that no general rule 
can be laid down. The choice between them depends en- 
tirely upon the nature of the work in question ; the best 
organization for one kind of work may be the worst for 
another. It may be said in general, as the result of our 
experience of three-quarters of a century, that where the 
duties of the head of a department are purely of a business 
or technical character, the single paid officer is the best; 
and that the salaried board is desirable only in the few 
cases where the duties of a department are of a some- 
what judicial character, and touch closely the rights of the 
citizen. The more nearly the duties consist in securing the 
execution of work, the more appropriate is the single 
head ; the more there is of mere supervision, of selection 
of methods and adoption of policies, the more suitable 
is the unpaid board. Of course, it may also be said 
in general that the latter form of organization is only desirable 
where tlie duties of directing the operations of a department 
can be so organized as only to require a fraction of the 
time of eacli member of the board. In spite of some ex- 
ceptions to the contrary, experience proves that the services 
of the man wlio is able and willing to give all of his time to 
the city without compensation are not of advantage to the pub- 
lic. The city rather needs a comparatively small portion of the 



City Government of Boston. 49 

time of busy men and women, who are successfully engaged 
in other affairs. This makes it necessary that the work 
entrusted to an unpaid board shall be lunited in its 
scope and special in its character ; that it shall be such that 
subordinate officials can conduct its daily routine, subject to 
directions received from the board at more or less frequent 
regular meetings. 

Within its appropriate sphere, no foi-ra of department con- 
trol possesses as many advantages as the unpaid board. In 
the first place, it ought theoretically to secure, — and it nearly 
always does secure in practice,- — unselfish service, rendered 
with no motive except that of performing useful public 
work, and perhaps of receiving the credit m the community 
properly attaching thereto. Secondly, it ensures greater 
continuity and stability of policy, advantages of primary 
importance in many branches of service. Thirdly, it takes 
certain nuinicipal departments largely or wholly out of the 
sphere of political influences, which are necessarily active in 
a large city. The power of removal vested in the Mayor 
makes him responsible in a general way for the proper con- 
duct of the department; while the fact that the term of only 
a single member of a board expires each year, and that 
differences of political affiliations are generally found in 
each board, necessarily limits the control which the chief 
executive could exercise for any partisan purpose, though he 
retains enough of authority to enable him ordinarily to 
accomplish, without resorting to the extremity of removal from 
office, whatever is required for the public good. Fourthly, 
when an unpaid board is wisely balanced m its construc- 
tion, the composite wisdom of the whole membership ought 
to be greater and of more practical value than that of any 
single member. Lastly, experience has clearly shown that 
men of successful achievement and high standing, who could 
not be induced by any salary that could be paid to sell to the 
city all of their time, are willing to give freely a portion of 



50 Seventy-Fifth Anniversary 

it. If the Boston of to-day has not been altogether able, 
under the modern conditions of a great city, to maintain the 
civic spu-it which under the town government induced so 
many of the best citizens to serve the public in office, she at 
least has no reason to be ashamed of the sixty-two men and 
women who are to-day serving her as members of unpaid boards, 
of what they stand for in mtelligence and in character, or of 
what they are accomplishing for the public good m the ad- 
ministration of the important affairs entrusted to their 
charge. 

Further Changes in City Government. 

It may not be out of place to consider briefly at this time 
what further changes still seem to be desirable, and therefore 
are likely to be made in the not distant future, in the organi- 
zation of our city government. So much has been accom- 
plished toward perfectmg and co-ordinating its machinery, 
and this has already been made so admirable in many re- 
spects, that such further steps as may be needed to render it 
still more harmonious and efficient in its operation are alto- 
gether likely to be taken. The citizens of the town of 
Boston were noted for their interest in, and understanding 
of, questions of governmental organization ; and in the city of 
to-day there are not lacking associations and individuals who 
desire the best that is attainable in city government, and are 
influential enough to secure in the long run the adoption of 
additional improvements. 

Tlie question of the proper constitution of the School Com- 
mittee is a controverted one, and is complicated by the fact 
that women are now allowed to vote in the election of its 
members ; but it must be admitted by all that the present 
organization of this Committee perj^etuates in one very im- 
portant department of the work of the city government the 
system of administration by elective committees, which was 
finally done away with as to all other city work by the 



City Government of Boston. 51 

charter amendment act of 1885. While the results at- 
tamed will vary according to the personnel of the Com- 
mittee, it is safe to say that the most efficient perform- 
ance of many important duties of a purely executive 
character devolving upon it cannot be achieved under 
the present system. The supervision of schools from 
the purely educational side is perhaps rather a work of 
a legislative than of an executive character, and this miglit 
be well performed by a conmiittee containing as many as 
twenty-four members ; but for the performance of the execu- 
tive side of the work, a smaller body, supervising and 
directing a proper force of executive or technical officers, 
with a single, responsible executive head, would seem to 
ensure more consistent policies and better results. The 
relations, or lack of relations, between the School Com- 
mittee and the City Council as to school appropriations are at 
present somewhat unfortunate, and give rise at times to un- 
necessary friction as to the division of tinancial responsi- 
bility. The City Council now merely appropriates a gross 
sum for the maintenance of the schools, and the impor- 
tant work of apportioning this sum for different purposes is 
performed by the School Committee itself ; and moreover this 
Committee, under the authority apparently given it by the 
state law, does not hesitate to make expenditures consider- 
ably in excess of its appropriations. In view of these facts 
it would seem to be decidedly in the interest of simplicity 
and responsibility to sever entirely the present financial tie 
between the City Council and the School Committee, and to 
give to the latter body directly, by statute, the right to draw 
from the city treasury for school purposes a fixed percentage, 
and no more, of the tax levy for each year. 

In respect to the Board of Street Commissioners, the elec- 
tion of its members by the people is an anomaly in our present 
system of government and does not seem to rest upon any suffi- 
cient reason. When the board was constituted in 1870, the 



52 Seventy-Fifth Anniversary 

powers given to it were taken from elective officers, namely 
the Aldermen, and this was perhaps the original reason for 
filling it by election by the people. While the work of 
laying out streets should not be entrusted to a single offi- 
cer, some other basis for a Land Court may be devised in 
the future. 

Organization of Executive Departments. 

In the executive departments under the charge of the 
Mayor, there does not now seem to be room either for 
any considerable further consolidation of existing depart- 
ments, or for the creation of new departments, though, doubt- 
less, a few changes might be made in each direction. Upon 
the whole, the present organization of the executive depart- 
ments is a capital one ; it has been arrived at by a long 
process of development, resulting in the final adoption of cer- 
tain principles. The existing framework of the Street 
Department, particularly, is an excellent one, and brmgs into 
close relation, under a single head, nearly all of the different 
branches of the municipal service, — now under the paving, 
sewer, bridge, street cleaning, sanitary and street watermg 
divisions, — ■ which have to do with the streets. The Super- 
intendent of Streets, as the officer supervising and directing 
the operations of these different divisions, each under its own 
head, together employing at the present time no less than 
3,000 men, has become a sort of deputy mayor as to the 
important branches of municipal service embraced m his 
department, to the great relief and advantage of the Mayor. 

It is a safe rule that no more work should be imposed 
directly upon the head of a department than is within the 
limit of such capacity and endurance as the city may reason- 
ably expect to secure. Even with our present large num- 
ber of departments, there are several, notably the Board of 
Health, which have already placed upon them rather a greater 
multiplicity of duties than can be properly performed. 



City Government or Boston. 53 

This board has already been relieved of the charge of the 
city cemeteries, and might well be relieved of several other 
duties, particularly the charge of public baths, which, per- 
haps in connection with public sanitary conveniences, are 
important enough to call for separate administrative control. 

While some persons object to the multiplicity of depart- 
ments already reached, on the score of complication of 
machinery as well as expense, it may well be claimed, on the 
other hand, that the proper distribution of public work tends 
in reality towards its simplification ; and expense is little, 
if at all, increased where an unpaid board can be placed 
at the head of a new department. The present is an age 
of specialized effort in every field of human activity; if 
municipal government is to keep up with the requirements of 
the times it must be specialized wherever this seems necessary 
for the accomplishment of the best results. The act of the 
present year created five institutions departments where only 
one existed before ; but it did so because the problems con- 
nected with the care of criminals, paupers, insane persons 
and children, vary in character, though related to each 
other, and need, as to each of these classes, the undivided 
attention of a separate board. The recent establishment of 
a Board of Statistics furnishes, on the other hand, a good 
illustration of a desirable extension of the work of the muni- 
cipal government into a new field. The development of 
municipal functions on new lines, which is one of the striking 
tendencies of our day, occasionally calls for the creation of 
new departments ; we should not hesitate to establish these 
wherever there is work for the public good waiting to be done, 
especially when they can be placed under the charge of un- 
paid boards. 



54 Seventy-Fifth Anniversaey 

Reorganization of City Council. 
Coming to the legislative branch of our city government, 
the need of some reorganization is almost universally con- 
ceded, though there are wide differences of opinion as to 
what form this should take. One difficulty inherent in the 
present organization is the comparative unimportance of the 
Common Council. Under the charter as it existed prior to 
1885, the functions of the Common Council, while by no 
means equal to those of the Board of Aldermen, were still of 
considerable importance ; since that time there has been little 
legitimate business for that body to do outside of passing the 
annual appropriation order (dividing the current revenue of 
the city among the different departments), and the orders 
authorizing loans. As the full amount which the city is 
allowed by state law to raise by taxation is always appro- 
priated each year, the making of the annual budget is really 
only a question of distributmg a fixed amount of money 
among the different departments ; as such distribution prac- 
tically can vary very little from the appropriations of the 
preceding year, reducing the work of the City Council to that 
of dividing the additional revenue in excess of that of the last 
year, but little opportunity is afforded for useful public service. 

The authorization of loans, amountmg under our financial 
system to a large sum each year, is indeed an important 
matter, and might afford an ample opening to serve the 
public ; but here the difficulty is met that it is ordinarily 
impossible to secure the two-thirds vote of the whole mem- 
bersliip of the Common Council required by statute for the 
passage of a loan order except by combining m one measure 
a sufficient number of local loan items to command the sup- 
port of at least two-thirds of that l)ody. The opportunities 
afforded for tlie display of municipal statesmanship in the 
framing and passing of a local-improvement loan order are 
hardly sufficient to make service in the Common Council 
attractive to those best qualified to serve the city. 



City Government of Boston. 55 

It has been proposed that the Common Council should he 
given equal powers concurrent in every respect with the 
Board of Aldermen ; this would doubtless do some good, 
but hardly enough, with a Common Council of seventy-five 
members, to warrant its adoption. The reduction of the 
number of Councilmen from three from each ward to one 
has also been proposed; and this would also, particularly 
in connection with the change in powers just mentioned, 
accomplish something for the regeneration of the Connnon 
Council. The act to be submitted to the voters for their 
acceptance at the next election provides, not for the aboli- 
tion of the Common Council, any more than for that of the 
Board of Aldermen, but for the consolidation of the two 
existing branches into a single chamber, two-thirds of whose 
members, correspondhig to the present Councilmen, are to be 
elected by wards, and one-third, correspondhig to the present 
Aldermen, by the city at large. 

One important object to be sought in connection with any 
change is that of making the members elected at large true 
representatives of the interests of tlie city as a whole, and 
entirely mdependent, as the INIayor practically is, of any 
local constituency within the city. The ideal balance of 
power would seem to be to divide the votes in a single 
chamber equally between members elected by wards, avowedly 
as representatives of local interests, and members elected at 
large, representing only the general welfare of the city. One 
great evil which the city suffers from at present is the fact 
that loan items of the greatest consequence from the general 
standpoint cannot secure votes enough to pass, and are 
crowded out in the interest of local items, log-rolled together 
to make a loan order wliich can go through both branches of 
the City Council. 



56 Seventy-Fifth Anniveesaby 

Relation between Legislative and Executive. 
One important function of a legislative body, particularly 
under a city government, is, through the power of the 
purse, to maintain a proper scrutiny upon the doings of the 
executive, and to brmg before the public any acts deserving 
of criticism. One trouble at present is that the City Coun- 
cil, having lost its old power to control the expenditure of 
money directly by its own committees, has not learned to 
put to a proper use the important power which still belongs 
to it of discussing, scrutmizing and checking the expendi- 
ture of money by the executive. The powers of the Mayor 
and of the heads of departments are so broad that they 
should be constantly exercised in the full light of publicity, 
and this it should be the function of the City Council to 
turn on. If proper and fair discussion of all important ex- 
ecutive acts could be had m the City Council, it would be 
greatly for the public advantage. One argument in favor 
of a smgle chamber is that it would seem to afford a much 
better opportunity than can exist with two branches for the 
re-establishment of this proper relation between the legisla- 
tive and executive departments. 

The object sought by all is the strengthening of the City 
Council, in importance and influence, as a co-ordmate branch 
in the government of the city, having jurisdiction only over 
a limited field, but one of sufficient importance to call for the 
exercise of the best talents. Obviously membership in a 
comparatively small body is of more consequence, and is 
therefore more apt to be sought or accepted by citizens of 
ability, than membership in a large body ; and membership in 
a single chamber, exercising all the powers vested in the 
legislative branch of the government, must amount to more 
than membership in one of two branches. It would indeed be 
a mistake to reduce too greatly the number of members of a 
single chamber in order to accomplish such an object, or to 



City Government of Boston. 57 

do away with the necessary checks on hasty or ill-advised 
legislative action; but a body about midway in membership 
between the Board of Aldermen and the Common Council, 
and only authorized to pass upon important matters after 
they have been considered at two meetings, separated by an 
interval of at least a week, would seem to afford the proper 
conditions. 

One thing maybe predicted with confidence; our City 
Council will become either of more consequence in our 
municipal government or of less. It is not likely to remain 
in its present condition of unstable equilibrium. If the 
reorganization act is accepted by the people, the consequence 
of the Council Avill undoubtedly be increased, and member- 
ship in it will become more highly prized. If, on the other 
hand, the act should be rejected, it is probable that further 
powers will in time be taken away from the City Council by 
the legislature, and that the Board of Apportionment system 
which lias prevailed in New York will be introduced here. 

Conclusion. 
As we stand to-day at the close of one period in the 
municipal life of Boston and look forward into another, we 
may well gather new courage and inspiration from the past, 
to strengthen us for meeting the problems of the future. 
Our city government was established in a time of small 
things, measured by modern standards, and our fathers had 
but slight material resources at their command. If we in 
our day and generation can exhibit as much of wisdom, of 
patient stiivmg, of devotion to the service of the public, as 
they did, we shall have no reason to be ashamed of the record 
we leave behind us. The difficulties encountered in muni- 
cipal government are different at different periods ; the 
qualities needed to overcome them are always the same. 
Civic pride and patriotic spirit characterized the people of 
the town of Boston from the earliest days, and these quali- 
ties have not died out among their successors. While 



58 Seventy-Fifth Anniversary of Boston. 

but a fraction of the people of the city of to-day are 
descendants of those who saw the first city government 
established, all of us are common inheritors of everythmg 
that made Boston in the past worthy of the distinction 
which she enjoyed. The city of three-quarters of a cen- 
tury hence can scarcely differ as widely from that of to- 
day, as does the city of to-day from that of 1822. We and 
our children, therefore, have not as great a transformation to 
effect as fell to the lot of our predecessors ; we have but to 
see to it that tlie municipality continues to make progress 
along lines of development already laid down. May we 
in that work ever keep before our minds a high ideal of what 
a great modern city ought to be, and a sense of the enlight- 
ened service it should demand from each of its citizens, in 
order that its beneficent activities may work for the greatest 
good of all its citizens. 




^-^^ a 




i 



HISTORICAL APPENDIX. 



60 



Seventy-Fifth Anniveksaey 



1822- 



Matok. 
*JOHN PHILLIPS. 

Aldermen. 

*S.amuel Billings, *Josepli Jenkins, 

*Ephraira Eliot, *Joseph Levering, 

*Jacob Hall, *Nathaniel Pope Russell, 

*Joseph Head, *Bryant Parrott Tilden. 

*Sarauel F. McClearj', City Clerk. 

Common Coctncil. 
*WILLIAM Prescott, President. 



Ward 1. 
* William Barrj-, 
*Thaddeus Page, 
*Cliarle8 AVells, 
*Simon Wilkinson. 



Ward 5. 
*George Washington Coffin 
*Tliomas Kendall, 
*Horatio Gates Ware, 
*Isaac Winslow. 



Ward 9. 
*Jonathan Davis, 
*Hawkes Lincoln, 
*William Prescott, 
*John Welles. 



Ward 2. 
*Martin Bates, 
*Benjamin Lamson, 
*IIenry Orne, 
*Joseph Stodder. 

Ward 3. 
*Theodore Dexter, 
* Joshua Emraona, 
*Saniuel Jones. 



Ward 4. 
*Joseph Cooledge, 
♦Samuel Perkins, 
*Robert Gould Shaw, 
*Joel Thayer. 



Ward 6. 
*Samuel Appleton, 
*Thoma8 Motley, 
*Jesse Shaw, 
*William Sullivan. 

Ward 7. 
♦Jonathan Amory, 
♦Patrick Tracy Jackson, 
♦Augustus Peabody, 
♦Enoch Silsby. 

Ward 8. 
♦David Watts Bradlee, 
♦Peter Chardon Brooks, 
♦James Perkins, 
♦Benjamin Russell. 

♦Thomas Clark, Clerk. 



Ward 10. 
♦Andrew Drake, 
♦Daniel Lewis Gilobens, 
*David CoUson 3Iosely, 
♦Isaac Stevens. 

Ward 11. 
♦George AVatson Brimmer, 
♦Asa Bullard, 
♦Barzillai Holmes, 
♦Winslow Lewis. 

Ward 12. 
♦Cyrus Alger, 
♦John French, 
♦.John Howe, 
♦Moses Williams. 



Note. — ♦ Deceased. 



City Government of Boston. 



6] 



189T. 
Mayor. 
JOSIAH QUINCY* 
Aldermen. 
Perlie a. Dyar, Chairman. 
John H. Lee, William Berwin, 

David F. Barry, Franklin L. Codman, 

Edward W. Presho, John H. Colby, 

Perlie A. Dyar, Josiah S. Dean, 

William F. Donovan, William li, Lott, 

William J. Donovan, Milton C. Paige. 

J. iMilchel Galvin, City Clerk. 



Ward 1. 
Collingwood C. Millar, 
Charles I. Albee, 
A. Dudley Bagley. 

Ward 2. 
Joseph A. Conry, 
William J. Cronin, 
James H. Donovan. 

Ward 3. 
John J. O'Callaghan, 
Henry B. Carroll, 
John I. Toland. 

Ward 4. 
William E. Mahoney, 
John W. Donohue, 
Joseph A. Turnbull. 

Ward 5. 
William J. Miller, 
James J. Brock, 
Dennis J. Falvey. 

Ward 6. 
John A. Rowan, 
James H. Shannon, 
Michael J. Donovan. 

Ward 7. 
William T. A. Fitzgerald, 
Thomas Mackey, 
William H. Roth. 

Ward 8. 
Francis J. Horgan, 
Daniel J. Kiley, 
Louis Sonnabend. 

Ward 9. 
Patrick Bo wen, 
Michael Leonard, 
Maurice J. McCarthy. 



COUNCILMEN. 

Joseph A. Conry, President. 

Ward 10. Ward 18. 

Alfred F. Kinney, Michael E. Gaddis, 

George S. Brooks, James J. Casey, 

AValter E. Nichols. John IL Daly. 



Ward 11. 
Frank H. Briggs, 
Charles R. Saunders, 
George Holden Tinkham. 

Ward 12. 
Arthur G. Wood, 
John B. Dumond, 
Edward P. Sands. 

Ward 13. 
Hugh W. Bresnahan, 
James T. Maliony, Jr. 
Patrick J. O'Toole. 

Ward 14. 
John H. Dunn, 
William P. Hickey, 
James F. Mulcahy. 

Ward 15. 
Edward C. Cadigan,t 
John J. Mahoney, 
Daniel V. Mclsaac. 

Ward 16. 
Oliver F. Davenport, 
Frederick W. Farwell, 
Arthur P. Russell. 

Ward 17. 
Timothy E. McCarthy, 
Timothy L. Connolly, 
John P. Lanergan. 

Joseph O'Kane, Clerk. 



Ward 19. 
Charles P. Nangle, 
John F. Denipsey, 
Jolin J. Flanagan. 

Ward 20. 
Wilbur F. Adams, 
Edwin D. Bell, 
Louis T. Howard. 

Ward 21. 
Samuel C. Jones, 
Alfred Newmarch, 
Albert C. Savpyer. 

Ward 22. 
John A. Maier, 
Charles F. Adams, 
William Dallow, Jr. 

Ward 23. 
Edward Orchard, 
Charles W. Dennis, 
Konrad Young. 

Ward 24. 
William E. Harvey, 
Willard W. Ilibbard, 
Harry J5. Whall. 

Ward 25. 
William M. Farrington, 
Ezra N. Rolland, 
William D. Wheeler. 



*Elected for two years. See chap. 449, Acts of 1895. 
tDied July 2, 1897. 



APPENDIX 



As the proceedings at the inauguration of the City Govern- 
ment have not been published before in detail, the following 
account has been prepared from the best authorities. 

Snow (History of Boston, p. 369) writes: — 
" The first of May was appointed by the charter as the day 
for the commencement of the municipal year. Suitable 
preparations were made in Faneuil Hall for the ceremonies 
of inducting the Mayor and other officers into their new 
stations. A platform, raised about two feet from the floor, 
was thrown from the selectmen's box to nearly the extent of 
the hall. On this the Selectmen of the past year, the Alder- 
men, and Common Council elect were acconnnodated with 
chairs and settees, the floor being covered with carpets. Two 
of the galleries were filled with ladies and the Hall was 
crowded to excess." 

The ofiicial record of the Proceedmgs of the Mayor and 
Board of Aldermen proceeds as follows : — 

City of Boston, May 1, 1822. 

This behig the day appomted for organization of the City 
Government by virtue of an act of the Legislature of the 
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, passed on the twenty third 
day of February A.D. 1822, entitled ''an act to establish 
the City of Boston." 



64 Seventy-Fifth Anniversary 

The following Gentlemen appeared in Faneuil Hall and 
took their seats, viz. : 

Hon. John Phillips, Mayor. 

aldermen. 

Samuel Billings Joseph Jenkins 

Ephraim Eliot Joseph Lovering 

Jacob Hall Nathaniel P. Russell 

Joseph Head Bryant V. Tilden. 

The meeting was opened with prayer by the Rev**. Thomas 
Baldwin, D.D. 

The Hon. Isaac Parker, Chief Justice of the Supreme 
Judicial Court, administered the several oaths required by 
law to the Mayor. — 

The Mayor then administered the like oaths to the 
Aldermen, and afterwards to the members of the Common 
Council. 

" Eliphalet Williams, Esq., the Chairman of the selectmen 
then rose, and, after an approj)riate address, delivered the 
city charter to the Mayor, contained in a superb silver case, 
and the ancient act incorporating the town nearly two cen- 
turies past, together with all the books of records, title deeds, 
and documents belonging to the inhabitants. He concluded 
with a compliment to the wisdom and judgment, which had 
selected the gentlemen composing the present boards, for the 
purpose of putting into operation the new and untried system 
of city government." (Snow, History.) 



City Government of Boston. 65 

In response, Mayor Pliillips addressed to the retiring Board 
of Selectmen, the following speech, which is copied from 
Qnincy's "Municipal History" of Boston, pp. 373-374: 

" Mr. Chairman, and Gentlemen of the Board of Selectmen : — 

" The members of the City Council acknowledge tlieir obli- 
gations to you, for the attention and care which you have 
bestowed in all the arrangements for their accommodation. 
They tender their thanks for the friendly and respectful 
sentiments expressed in the address which accompanied the 
delivery of the ancient act of incorporation of the town, and 
the recent charter of the city. 

" During the short period which has elapsed since I was 
elected to the office, the duties of which I have now solemnly 
undertaken to discharge to the best of my ability, I have 
devoted such portion of my time as I could command to 
examme the records of your proceedmgs, with the able as- 
sistance which your Chairman most readily afforded me ; and 
they furnish full evidence of the ability, dihgenee, and integ- 
rity of those who have been justly denominated the Fathers 
of the town. 

" Gentlemen, you will now be relieved from labors, the 
weight of which can only be duly estimated by those excel- 
lent citizens who have preceded you in office. You retire 
with the consciousness of important duties faithfully and 
honorably discharged. Our best wishes attend you, whether 
engaged in public employments or in private pursuits. May 
you be useful and prosperous, and long continue your exer- 
tions to advance the interest and honor of our city." 

Then turning to the members of tlie new administration, 
he said: 

" Gentlemen of the City Council : — 

" The experience of nearly two centuries has borne ample 
testimony to the wisdom of those institutions which our an- 
cestors established for the management of their municipal 
concerns. Most of the towns in this Commonwealth may, 



66 Seventy-Fifth Anniversary 

probably, continue to enjoy the benefit of those salutary reg- 
ulations for an unlimited series of years. But the great in- 
crease of population in the town of Boston has made it 
necessary for the Legislature frequently to enact statutes of 
local application, to enable the inhabitants successfully to 
conduct their affau's ; and at the last session, with a prompt- 
ness which claims our gratitude, on the application of the 
town, they granted the charter which invests it with the 
powers and immunities of a city. Those who have attended 
to the mconveniences under which we have labored, will not 
attribute this innovation to an eager thirst for novelty, or rest> 
less desire of innovation. The most intelligent and experi- 
enced of our citizens have for a long period meditated a 
change, and exerted their influence to effect it. Difference 
of opinion must be expected, and mutual concessions made, 
in all cases where the interests of a large, community is to be 
accommodated. The precise form in Avhich the charter is to 
be presented, may not be acceptable to all; but its provisions 
have met with the approbation of a large majority, and it 
will receive the support of every good citizen. 

"Those who encourage hopes that can never be realized, 
and those who indulge unreasonable apprehensions because 
this instrument is not framed agreeably to their wishes, will 
be benefited by reflecting, how much more our social happi- 
ness depends upon other causes than the provisions of a 
charter. Purity of manners, general diffusion of knowledge, 
and strict attention to the education of the young, above all 
a firm, practical belief of that divine revelation which has 
affixed the penalty of unceasing anguish to vice, and prom- 
ised to virtue rewards of interminable duration, will counter- 
act the evils of any form of government. While the love 
of order, benevolent affections, and Christian piety, distin- 
guish, as they have done, the inhabitants of this city, they 
may enjoy the higliest blessings under a charter with so few 
imperfections as that whicli the wisdom of our Legislature 
has sanctioned. 



City Government op Boston. 67 

" To enter upon the administration of this govenunent by 
the invitation of our feUow-citizens, we are this day assem- 
bled. When T look around and observe gentlemen of the 
highest standing and most active employments, devoting their 
talents and experience to assist in the commencement of this 
arduous business, in common with my fellow-citizens, I appre- 
ciate most highly their elevated and patriotic motives. I well 
loiow, Gentlemen, the great sacrifice of time, of care, and of 
emolument, which you make in assuming this burden. It 
shall be my constant study to enlighten it by every means in 
my power. In my official intercourse I shall not incumber 
you with unnecessary forms, or encroach on your time w ith 
prolix dissertations. In all tlie communications whicli the 
charter requii'es me to make, conciseness and brevity will be 
carefully studied. I will detain you no longer from the 
discharge of the important duties w]ii(;h now devolve upon 
you, than to invite you to unite in beseeching the Father 
of Light, without whose blessing all exertion is fruitless, 
and whose grace alone can give efficacy to the councils 
of human wisdom, to enlighten and guide our deliber- 
ations with the influence of his Holy Spirit, and then we 
cannot fail to promote the best interests of our fellow-citi- 
zens." 

At this point is resumed the regular report from the 
records of the Board of Aldermen, the proceedings in the 
Connuon Council being almost the counterpart and not 
worth repeating. 

Afterwards the Board of Aldermen retired to their own 
room. 

The Hon. Mr. Sullivan came up with a message from the 
Common Council to inform the Board of Aldermen that they 
had elected the Hon. William Prescott their President, and 
Thomas Clark Esq. Clerk. 

Alderman Head was charged with a message to the Com- 
mon Council to propose a Convention forthwith of both 
boards for the purpose of electing a City Clerk. 



68 Seventy-Fifth Anniversary 

Major Russell came up with a message from the Board of 
Common Council to inform the Board of Aldermen that they 
concur in the proposition to form a Convention of the two 
boards to meet forthwith in Faneuil Hall for the purpose of 
electing a City Clerk. 

IN CONVENTION. 

Agreeably to assignment the two boards met in Convention 
m Faneuil Hall for the purpose of electing a City Clerk. 

Mess"- Tilden, Davis and Brooks were appointed a com- 
mittee, to receive, sort & count the votes, for a City Clerk, 
who reported, that the whole number of votes was fifty 
four ; — necessary to make a choice twenty eight ; — Samuel 
F. McCleary, Esq. had fifty two votes and was chosen. 

The oath of ofiice was administered to him by the Mayor. 

The business of the Convention being accomplished the 
two boards separated. 

Ordered., That Aldermen Head & Russell with such as 
may be joined on the part of the board of Common Council, be 
a Committee to consider what subjects require the immediate 
attention of the City Council, with power to report, such by- 
laws as may be immediately requisite. Sent down for con- 
currence. Came up concurred, and the board of Common 
Council joined on its part JNIess''^- J. Welles, Sullivan & 
Orne. 

Account against the town of Boston passed and allowed, 
and Ordered^ that a warrant be drawn upon the Treasurer 
for the amount thereof being 13022.45. 

Voted to adjourn to meet at the Court of Sessions room in 
the County Court house this afternoon 4 o'Clock. 



City Government of Boston. 69 



Afternoon. 

Court of Sessions Room. 

The Committee appointed on the subject of the hy-laws, 
reported, three bills viz.: A by-law to establish rules & regu- 
lations for the preservation of the public health and for the 
appomtment of temporary health Commissioners. 

An order to continue in force bj'-laws. 

An order prescribing the form of warrants for calling meet- 
ings of the Citizens of the several wards. 

Which several orders being twice read passed to be 
enrolled. 

Sent down for concurrence. Came up concurred. 

Ordered^ That the Mayor and Alderman Head be a com- 
mittee to consider and report on the subject of rules and 
orders to be observed at this board. 

Ordered^ That the Mayor, Aldermen Hall, Billings and 
Jenkins, be a Committee to consider the subject of licensing 
all Theatrical exhibitions and all public shows, aiul the terms 
and conditions of licensing ; and also report by-laws, inflict- 
ing forfeitures for the non observance of such by-laws and 
report thereon. 

Ordered^ That all Committees shall be nominated by the 
Mayor until further order. 

Alderman Head was charged with a message to propose a 
convention of the City Council m the Court of Sessions room 
tomorrow 10 o'Clock; to determine the number of Repre- 
sentatives it will be expedient for the City to send to the 
General Court, the present year. 

Major Russell came up with a message from the Board of 
Common Coimcil; to state, that they non concur in the 
proposition to form a Convention as above proposed, and 
the Common Council propose to form a Convention in the 
Supreme Court's room immediately for the purpose above 
specified. 



70 Seventy-Fifth Anistiversary 

Alderman Tilden was cliarged with a message to inform 
the Common Conncil, that the Board of Aldermen concur in 
their last prox)osition to form a Convention in the Supreme 
Court room for the purpose of determming the number of 
Representatives it will be expedient for the City to send to 
the next General Court — forthwith, — 

IN CONVENTION. 

Agreeably to assignment the two boards met in Convention 
in the Supreme Court room for the purpose of determining 
the number of Representatives it Avill be expedient for the 
City to send to the next General Court. And the City Comi- 
cil determined that the number should be twenty five. 

The business of the Convention being accomplished the 
two boards separated. 

Ordered, That Aldermen Eliot and Jenkins be a Committee 
to consider the propriety of printing the Constitution of the 
United States, and of this State, with such by-laws of the 
town of Boston as are now in force. 

Ordered, That proposals will be received until the sixteenth 
instant to supply the City with Summer strained oil, not ex- 
ceedmg thirty five hundred gallons, & with Winter stramed 
oil not exceeding three thousand gallons to be delivered in 
such quantities, & at such times as may be requested. 

Ordered, That proposals will be received until the fifteenth 
instant, for the paving that may be wanted for the City the 
ensumg season. 

Voted, That Aldermen Tilden and Billings be a committee 
to direct the repairing of the side-walks in Summer street 
near Church green. 

Voted, That Aldermen Tilden, Billmgs and Jenkins be a 
committee to direct all necessary repairs near the School-house 
on Fort-hill. 

Voted, That Aldermen Loveruig, Hall & Jenkins be a com- 
mittee to du-ect all necessary repairs in Brighton street and 
Charles street. 



City Governivient of Boston. 71 

Ordered^ That Wednesday next 11 o'Clock be appointed for 
the meeting of the wards for the choice of Representatives, 
and warrants were ordered to be issued according!}^, to meet 
in the same places except hi Ward No. 6, to be in the meet- 
mg house hi Butolph street. 

Adjourned to four o'Clock to-morrow afternoon. 

[End of official record.] 



The new City Government had no official lieadquartcrs. 
On JNIay G the Cit}' Council appointed a committee to prepare 
a room. No report or entry on the records shows what room 
was obtained, but it seems beyond a doul)t that it was hi the 
School-street court-house. 

The records of 1823 show that in the fall of tliat yeai- a 
committee spent about $1,000 in fitting uj) the hall of tlie 
Common Council, and that it was a room which liad been used 
as a court room. The clerk's desk was a table borrowed from 
the room of the Supreme Court. The Auditor's report of 
1822-3 shoAVS some 1450 spent on furniture for the Mayor 
and Aldermen's room. 

By an ordmance of Dec. 20, 1824, rooms wore assigned to 
the City Treasurer at the westerly end of tlio old State House ; 
for the City Clerk in the jNIayor and Aldermen's room ; for the 
Auditor at the westerly end of the court-house, south side ; 
Health Commissioners, Superintendent of Buiying Grounds 
and for the City Marshal in the room at the same end, north 
side. The clerk of the Common Council and the Captain of 
the Watch were accommodated in the room in a back Iniilding 
opposite the southwest door of tlie court-house, while the 
Assessors occupied a room at the easterly end of Faneuil Hall 
on the south side. 

Mayor Quincy in his inaugural address in January, 1827, 
advised changes in the county court-house, as nothing could 
be more inconvenient than the location of the public offices. 
The Mayor and Aldermen, City Clerk, Auditor, and offices 



72 Seventy-Fifth Annivbrsaey of Boston. 

of police were in one building; the Assistant City Clerk in 
another, the Treasurer in a third, and the Assessors, Over- 
seers of the Poor and Directors of the House of Industry in 
a fourth, very much the condition that obtains to-day. 

He recommended a fire-proof building at the western end 
of Faneuil Hall, which would cost less than the proposed 
new court-house. 

In 1828 the Mayor and Aldermen's room was in the third 
story of the west wing of the stone court-house, facing 
School street. The Common Council chamber was in the 
centre of the same story. The members' seats had a gradual 
ascent from front to rear. The School Committee met in 
the Mayor's office. 

In 1830 the old State House was fitted up for the City 
Council and the city offices, and by ordinance was called City 
Hall. On Nov. 21, 1832, the buildmg was damaged by fire. 
Tlie damages were repaired for about |3,500. No papers of 
importance were lost. 

In 1839 the City Council appropriated $60,000 for the 
purchase of land in Court square and on School street, and 
$500 as a premium for a new Cit}^ Hall. None of the plans 
were adopted, and July 27, 1840, it was decided to fit up the 
School-street court-house; and on March 18, 1841, it was 
dedicated as the new City Hall. This was occupied until 
Jan. 12, 1863, when the City Government moved into Me- 
chanic's Hall, a^ the corner of Chauncey and Bedford streets. 
The last meeting of the Board of Aldermen in the School- 
street building was on Jan. 7, 1863, and the first in Me- 
chanics' Hall on January 12 of the same year. 

The present City Hall was dedicated and occupied Sept. 
18, 1865, at noon (the 17th being Sunday); the corner-stone 
having been laid on Dec. 22, 1862. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




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